Republicans face angry voters at town halls, hinting at broader backlash

TRINITY COUNTY, Texas — Some came with complaints about Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s billionaire ally who is carrying out an assault on the federal bureaucracy. Others demanded guarantees that Republicans in Congress would not raid the social safety net. Still others chided the GOP to push back against Trump’s moves to trample the constitutional power of Congress.

When Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, arrived at a crowded community center Saturday in the small rural town of Trinity in East Texas, he came prepared to deliver a routine update on the administration’s first month in office. Instead, he fielded a barrage of frustration and anger from constituents questioning Trump’s agenda and tactics — and pressing Sessions and his colleagues on Capitol Hill to do something about it.

“The executive can only enforce laws passed by Congress; they cannot make laws,” said Debra Norris, a lawyer who lives in Huntsville, arguing that the mass layoffs and agency closures that Musk has spearheaded were unconstitutional. “When are you going to wrest control back from the executive and stop hurting your constituents?”

Louis Smith, a veteran who lives in East Texas, told Sessions that he agreed with the effort to root out excessive spending, but he criticized the way it was being handled and presented to the public.

“I like what you’re saying, but you need to tell more people,” Smith said. “The guy in South Africa is not doing you any good — he’s hurting you more than he’s helping,” he added, referring to Musk and drawing nods and applause from many in the room.

In Trinity and in congressional districts around the country over the past week, Republican lawmakers returning home for their first congressional recess since Trump was sworn in faced similar confrontations with their constituents. In Georgia, Rep. Rich McCormick struggled to respond as constituents shouted, jeered and booed at his response to questions about Musk’s access to government data. In Wisconsin, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald was asked to defend the administration’s budget proposals as voters demanded to know whether cuts to essential services were coming.

Many of the most vocal complaints came from participants who identified themselves as Democrats, but a number of questions pressing Sessions and others around the country came from Republican voters. During a telephone town hall with Rep Stephanie Bice in Oklahoma, a man who identified himself as a Republican and retired U.S. Army officer voiced frustration over potential cuts to veterans benefits.

“How can you tell me that DOGE with some college whiz kids from a computer terminal in Washington, D.C., without even getting into the field, after about a week or maybe two, have determined that it’s OK to cut veterans benefits?” the man asked.

Beyond town halls, some Democrats have organized a number of protests outside the offices of vulnerable Republicans. More than 100 demonstrators rallied outside the New York district office of Rep. Mike Lawler. Elected Democrats are also facing fury from within the ranks of their party. A group of voters held closed-door meetings with members from the office of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader, after a demonstration at his New York offices.

Some of the scenes recalled the raucous town-hall meetings of 2009 that heralded the rise of the ultraconservative Tea Party, where throngs of voters showed up protesting President Barack Obama’s health care law and railed against government debt and taxes.

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