A U.S. representative from Ohio became the latest Republican to be heckled into silence during a disastrous town hall held just miles from where Vice President JD Vance grew up.
More than 500 people attended a rare town hall on Wednesday hosted by Rep. Warren Davidson in rural Trenton, Ohio, about five miles from the town of Middletown, which Vance immortalized in the memoir that catapulted him onto the national stage, Hillbilly Elegy.
Throughout the event, constituents booed and jeered Davidson’s answers to questions about President Donald Trump’s Medicaid cuts, troop deployments to U.S. cities, and his introduction of legislation to use federal resources to study “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” which is very much not a real medical condition.
“The Big Beautiful Bill is projected to take Medicaid away from as many as 500,000 people. How will you explain your vote to the people who will no longer be able to see their doctor?” one person asked, drawing cheers.
“As I said early on, the only people who are losing access to Medicaid aren’t affected in Ohio because we didn’t add illegals to Medicaid,” Davidson said in a video published by the Cincinnati Inquirer.
The response drew loud boos, but he continued, “And able-bodied, working-age adults. And I honestly think most of them will still keep access to Medicaid because they’ll probably get a job. Or they’ll probably go to school. And lots of people are hiring, so I think most of them aren’t going to lose anything. It’s going to be great.”
Davidson is the latest GOP lawmaker to be savaged by voters during the August recess, when members of Congress were tasked with selling the deeply unpopular Republican spending bill to their constituents.
Most Republicans have heeded party leadership’s advice to avoid holding in-person town halls, but a handful of representatives in California, Wyoming, Missouri, and beyond have taken their chances with voters, at times receiving R-rated rebukes over their unconditional support for Trump.
While some people cheered Davidson’s support for Trump, the crowd was so hostile overall that about 20 minutes into the event, the lawmaker began to fall silent in response to the noise, the Cincinnati Inquirer reported.
“How do you justify or feel about the deployment of the National Guard in American cities while being such a supporter of small government reach?” asked another voter, inspiring cheers and a standing ovation.
“I am glad that people recognize that I do want a much smaller government,” Davidson said, drawing laughs and jeers from the audience.
“Don’t lie!” someone called out.
He then tried to explain that “even under the most Libertarian small-government contract,” one of the most basic “phrases” is, “Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.”
“But people have had a hard time with that since the days of Cain and Abel, hence the need for law and order and judges,” Davidson said.
At that point, Davidson was drowned out by jeers and yelling. He remained quiet until the moderator began reading the next question.
“Hold on,” Davidson said. “I would like to answer the question. I’m just not going to talk over y’all. So, if you want answers, then listen to the answers.”
“Quit lying!” someone yelled again.
“Release the files!” a woman called out at one point, in reference to the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Davidson also tried to explain that Washington, D.C., “isn’t a safe city” and said the National Guard troops would remain there until “the city is ready.”
He never did explain, though, how having a standing army in American cities squares with being a small-government Libertarian.
“I’m glad that they’ll have National Guards there. I’m proud of [Ohio] Gov. [Mike] DeWine for sending them there,” he said, drawing even more boos.
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