Rep. Doug LaMalfa (Calif.) on Monday became the latest Republican to see a town hall devolve into shouts and jeers as he was peppered with hostile comments over the “big, beautiful bill,” the Trump administration’s immigration moves and other elements of the GOP agenda.
At an event in Chico, Calif., LaMalfa’s opening remarks were greeted with expletive-laden shrieks and boos. After staff distributed red and green placards to the crowd who packed the local Elks Lodge to register their opinions, the lawmaker repeatedly saw a sea of red.
”No fascism in America,“ one man screamed at LaMalfa at the beginning. “You need to be impeached.”
“I have many concerns, but one of the biggest ones for our area is the cuts to the Medicaid, SNAP, housing vouchers,” one woman said later during the town hall. “There’s this facade that we’re not working hard enough and that’s why we’re trying to get free benefits. Everyone’s working as hard as they can even to help their neighbors survive.“
LaMalfa was greeted by another angry but smaller-scale crowd later Monday at a different town hall in Red Bluff, Calif. He attempted to defend President Trump’s agenda, including cuts to Medicaid in the “big, beautiful bill.”
“It doesn’t cut a single dollar from people that do qualify,” he said, arguing that California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration had an obligation to ensure the state’s Medi-Cal program was not spent on people who had entered the U.S. illegally. “I think taxpayers work too hard to have their money go to illegal immigration.”
As LaMalfa spoke, local news station KRCR captured a man standing at the back of the auditorium, making a mock-talking motion with his hands. He also wore a white shirt depicting Trump in a cage with the words “Make America Great Again” surrounding it, mocking the president’s campaign slogan.
A few constituents did come out to support LaMalfa.
“I want to thank you for continuing to defend our rights,” one woman, who identified herself as a Hispanic immigrant, said at the Chico town hall. “To those yelling, I suggest you get a passport and travel. You will see the grass is no greener on the other side. America is still the greatest country in the world.”
The lawmaker, who represents a large swath of Northern California, is one of the five Golden State Republicans who could be pushed out of his seat by a Democratic midcycle redistricting effort meant to counter potential GOP gains in Texas from a redistricting effort during the midterms next year.
At his Chico town hall, the California Republican said he opposed redistricting efforts in Texas, but he argued his home state’s planned retaliation was worse for trying to bypass the state’s independent redistricting commission established by voters.
“Texas shouldn’t be doing that. … This is going to start a grass fire across the country; every single state trying to change it based on a political outcome,” he said. “California’s difference from Texas is that they’re going to be trampling the voice of those propositions.”
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