Republican officials met with frustrated voters

NBC News - From Georgia and Wisconsin to Oklahoma and Oregon, Republican lawmakers have been getting an earful during town halls in their home districts, as constituents complain about the layoffs of federal employees, talks of potential cuts to Medicaid and other drastic actions that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are carrying out. The dissatisfaction among people around the U.S. could be an early sign of political backlash to come as the GOP largely yields to the president and his ally.

In Roswell, a suburb of Atlanta, Rep. Rich McCormick was confronted by people angry about job cuts at federal agencies, particularly at the CDC, which is a major employer in Atlanta. In West Bend, Wisconsin, a town hall attendee asked Rep. Scott Fitzgerald: “Are you going to subpoena him at some point? Are you willing to use your subpoena power to tell Musk to stand in front of Congress and answer some hard questions?” At an event in Baker City, Oregon, Rep. Cliff Bentz defended Musk, calling him “an absolute world-renowned expert,” a description that elicited some laughs from the crowd.

Democrats, too, are facing pressure from constituents who urged them to fight harder against Musk’s DOGE efforts. At a packed town hall in Albany, New York, a man urged Rep. Paul Tonko to take action. “We will stand behind you, we will be there with you,” the man declared as the crowd cheered.

The raucous town halls have conjured memories of those in 2009 — the start of the tea party movement — when constituents protested over Democrats’ massive health care bill, which became the Affordable Care Act. The next year, a red wave gave House Republicans a 63-seat gain and swept Democrats out of power.

It’s too soon to tell if the current frustrations among some Americans could lead to Democrats taking the House or Senate in the 2026 midterms. But if Republicans want to avoid getting swamped like Democrats did in 2010, they “must pivot to connecting the dots between their actions and the tangible economic benefits for the working class,” said Ken Spain, who served as a communications director for the House Republican campaign arm in 2009 and 2010. “Otherwise, the echoes of 2009 could become increasingly louder.”  More