'I'm disappointed': Angry crowd forces GOP lawmaker to agree about Trump's 'bad idea'
A Republican lawmaker was forced to agree with a crowd of angry constituents in the deep-red Ohio county from which Vice President JD Vance hails.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) hosted a town hall Wednesday evening at Edgewood Middle School in Butler County, where more than 500 people packed into an auditorium to challenge the congressman on President Donald Trump's policies from the start of the event, reported the Cincinnati Enquirer.
"The event began with a prayer, led by an Edgewood High School senior, and the Pledge of Allegiance," the newspaper reported. The crowd raised their voices on the phrase 'liberty and justice for all,' echoing the word 'all' loudly just before the congressman was introduced."
"Davidson began the town hall with an update on his activities in Congress, and when he said the phrase 'illegal aliens' just a few minutes in," the report added, "the crowd erupted with boos and shouts of 'don't lie.'"
Davidson faced jeers throughout the hour-long event and was peppered with hostile questions about Medicaid cuts and other unpopular portions of the president's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as well as Trump's deployment of Ohio's National Guard to patrol Washington, D.C.
"I would want to hear some clarity around benefits and health care because in the state of Ohio, roughly 700,000 people are going to be losing access to Medicare and Medicaid," said Benjamin McCall, of Liberty Township. "The VA's been hit, there's a lot of veterans here tonight that probably would have loved to hear those questions."
Davidson also called for a bill regulating artificial intelligence and responded to Trump's announcement that the federal government now owns a 10-percent stake in the tech company Intel, according to WLWT-TV.
"Yeah, I'm disappointed in that decision," Davidson said. "Yeah, I don't think the federal government should own equity in companies. I think it's a bad idea."
Butler County backed Trump over Kamala Harris in last year's election by 63 percent to 36 percent, but the Republican lawmaker faced frequent interruptions and near-constant booing just down the road from the town Vance described in his reputation-making memoir "Hillbilly Elegy."
“Being from Middletown, the tariffs, the attacks on the working class — we’re doing away with a lot,” said voter Constance Miller. “The middle working class is now being pushed down into the poor.”
Protesters also gathered outside the middle school holding signs protesting administration polices.
“I’m out here because the people deserve better than what we’re getting right now,” said protester Chris Field.
GOP leaders have discouraged lawmakers from holding town halls to avoid confrontations like the one Davidson faced, and Republican Art Sauerwein told the Enquirer he was disappointed by the response at the event.
“The disruption was disgraceful,” said Sauerwein, of Hanover Township. “I had no idea it would be this disruptive. It was out of control. I really think those people should have been kicked out. They should have had more than two deputies here.”
