‘This Feels Like a Repeat’: Republicans Try To Get A Handle On Their Town Hall Problem

Downplaying town hall rage is a storied tradition in Washington and something that has boded poorly for the party in power.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans told HuffPost they plan to keep holding town halls amid a nationwide burst of anger at President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, saying the voters who speak out aren’t truly representative of public opinion while seeking ways they can keep liberal groups at bay.

After town hall confrontations between liberal protesters and Republican members of Congress in Georgia and Wisconsin went viral, the comparisons between 2025, the spring of 2017 and the summer of 2009 became obvious. In both 2009 and 2017, raucous town halls focused on the unpopular legislative agenda of the party in power were forerunners of a massive midterms backlash.

“They say history only rhymes and doesn’t just repeat, but goddamn, this feels like a repeat,” said Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of the progressive organization Indivisible, comparing today’s town halls to the 2017 protests over the GOP’s push to repeal Obamacare.

Republican leaders clearly felt the sting of town halls during a recess last month, offering an unprompted rebuttal to the viral images at their first press conference back in Washington on Tuesday. NBC News reported that GOP leadership advised lawmakers to avoid town halls altogether; a spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) did not respond to a request to confirm or deny the report.

Republican strategists have generally advised party members to avoid town halls where they can be dominated by Indivisible or MoveOn, two liberal groups that have long helped organize opposition at GOP town halls, and to consider holding tele-town halls or virtual meetings on Facebook instead.