U.S. Rep Mike Flood, R-Neb., speaks during his town hall in Lincoln on Aug 4. 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — Nebraska Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Flood faced a hostile crowd at a concert hall this week in his district’s most Democratic city, Lincoln.
Flood’s third and final town hall of the year drew national headlines and eyes on social media sites including X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for the reception he received. Attendees jeered him as he defended voting for President Donald Trump’s budget and tax bill the president calls “big” and “beautiful.” Flood was asked how much it cost to be a “fascist” and faced chants of “vote him out” and “tax the rich” throughout the 90-minute affair.
The national attention — particularly online, where voters increasingly get their news — might have been the point. Flood is a modern rarity among congressional Republicans, one who faces the electorate without pre-screening the crowd. He is the last among Nebraska’s all-GOP delegation to host town halls that way.
Dona-Gene Barton, a political science professor who studies political behavior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, described the town hall as an opportunity for Flood, an attorney and former speaker of the Legislature from Norfolk, to showcase his debate skills. Flood also owns TV and radio news stations, so he is no stranger to a microphone.
“He may be feeling more comfortable having these conversations with constituents that may disagree with him, because he believes that a larger portion of the district is going to support his actions now,” Barton said of Flood.
Lancaster County, home to Lincoln, is the second-most populous area in the state, behind only Omaha. Both are heavily Democratic cities that supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Lincoln has a Democratic mayor and a Democratic city council.
But Flood, as Barton pointed out, won his 2024 re-election bid with 60% of the vote against Carol Blood, which may be why he feels more bullish than other Republicans in the federal delegation. He won Lancaster County that year by nearly 5,600 votes.
Flood acknowledged the GOP lean of the rest of the district near the end of the town hall, when he talked directly to viewers of a Nebraska Public Media livestream while getting booed, saying, “For those of you who [are] watching from home, please know that I’m on your side. I never forget who I’m working for.”
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Earlier this year, national leaders advised House Republicans, including Flood, to avoid in-person town halls after several members hosting them since Trump’s reelection faced public protests and angry constituents.
Retiring U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who represents the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District, had held town halls for years. He said he switched to telephone town halls because of “large interest” and because it is more “civil.”
Democrats have argued Bacon feared facing the people he represents. The new format allows his staff to pre-screen callers and cut them off if they go too far.
“Frankly, it’s more conversational,” Bacon told reporters in March. “When you got moms and dads saying we can’t bring our kids to a town hall, there’s a problem.”
Tuesday’s event isn’t the first of Flood’s town halls to go viral this year. Parts of his town hall in Columbus were widely shared online after Flood told attendees that he hadn’t read part of the Trump mega bill before passing it.
Bacon said in March that Flood likes to do in-person town halls as a way to “make the far left look bad.” Flood told reporters after his Lincoln town hall that he considers it his “job to answer their questions,” and it’s the “town square.”
“You have an obligation to stand in the town square, regardless of your comfort level, and answer people’s questions,” Flood told the Examiner after the event. “I believe what I’m doing in Congress is the right thing.”
Flood said he understands why other Republicans are holding tele-town halls and other more controlled events, as some communicate better in that format, but in-person events are the “right thing” for him.
“Thank you for being here, Congressman Flood … I want to ask, why it seems like you make voting decisions based on capital rather than the working class,” an attendee asked during the Q&A part of the town hall.
Some national Republican strategists said town halls don’t help highlight the positive aspects of Trump’s second administration and its signature piece of budget and tax legislation. The reason: News and social media coverage often focuses on the outbursts and congressional reactions to them instead of the cases Republicans are trying to make about the changes.
The National Republican Congressional Committee released a memo in late July on how House Republicans can make “August count” as they try to sell Trump’s domestic agenda to constituents. It says they need to sell the strengths of Trump’s new law, which much polling indicates is unpopular among Americans.
The memo suggests congressional members host more focused events, such as the small business roundtables that GOP U.S. Sens. Pete Ricketts and Deb Fischer often hold, as a way to counter “Democrats’ efforts” with a “disciplined and compelling communications effort.”
Fischer, for example, has an agricultural roundtable planned for Saturday with Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in rural Saunders County.
“This is a critical opportunity to continue to define how this legislation will help every voter and push back on Democrat fearmongering,” the memo reads. “The playbook is simple: Focus on President Trump and House Republicans’ efforts to improve voters’ everyday lives and show the contrast with out-of-touch Democrats.”
Most of the state’s federal delegation recently praised the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ during a question-and-answer session with business leaders in Ashland. Nebraska’s congressional delegates spoke optimistically about federal policies helping the state’s economic future, despite some warning signs that Nebraska’s ag industry is struggling.
State and national Republican strategists have acknowledged the poor polling of Trump’s domestic agenda, but said focusing on specific provisions, such as new temporary tax breaks for workers earning less, could help improve public perception of the law, as they bank on the idea that long-term messaging about the bill could shape the 2026 midterms.
Nebraska Democrats also see potential advantages in Flood holding town halls, where activists and regular people can ask questions and frame his answers for social media sharing, which reaches more voters than a typical news story. Some also argue that much of the anger at the town halls is organic.
“Nebraskans, like Americans all across the country, are sending a loud and clear message to Republicans: You voted against us. Now we’ll vote you out,” said Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb in a statement.
Flood’s Democratic challenger, Eric Moyer, attended the Lincoln town hall and posted on Instagram, “This isn’t going to be a friendly crowd.” Moyer’s official campaign kickoff event is next week.
National and state Democrats point to the tax and spending bill’s unpopularity, but the party has its own problems, as recent polling shows the Democratic Party has a worse approval rating than Trump, whose approval rating remains underwater.
Still, Democrats hold a slight lead in the party head-to-head RealClearPolitics polling average for the generic congressional ballot — a poll that basically asks voters which candidate for Congress they would prefer if the choice were between a generic Republican and a generic Democrat.
Barton, the UNL political scientist, said only time will tell if the energy from Flood’s Lincoln town hall continues and if discontent from the bluest part of Flood’s district is widespread. Midterms are over a year away.
“These are unusual political times where you have a Nebraska congressman being called a fascist at his own town hall,” Barton said.
Flood responded to the comment during the event, saying, “Fascists don’t hold town halls with open question-and-answer sessions.”
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