Indiana Democrats draw crowds for "empty chair" town halls
About 75 people packed into a windowless room inside the Greenwood Fieldhouse for a raucous Friday night last week.
Driving the news: It wasn't sports or music bringing people together — it was politics.
The Indiana Democratic Party hosted a town hall in the state's 6th Congressional District, a seat held by Republican U.S. Rep. Jefferson Shreve.
The freshman congressman has hosted a small-business roundtable and visited sites around his district but has yet to host a public forum like a town hall.
He was invited to Friday night's event but did not attend.
The big picture: Earlier this year, GOP leadership urged House Republicans to stop doing in-person town halls.
In-person events were being "hijacked" by Democratic activists and liberal groups trying to bait lawmakers into confrontational moments, sources told Axios, so leadership encouraged members to switch to virtual events.
Since then, most GOP lawmakers have complied, and Democrats and other groups have stepped in to host their own out-of-district or " empty chair" town halls.
Zoom in: The Indiana Democratic Party has hosted seven "People's Town Hall" events so far, with plans to hold at least one in every GOP-held district in the state.
Attendees in Greenwood wanted to know what the party was doing to push back against President Trump's policies that threaten Medicaid and SNAP benefits, how to get heard by their representatives, what can be done to reach out to get more minorities involved in the party, and how to make a difference in the next election cycle.
What they're saying:"Our first People's Town Halls in Bloomington, Lafayette, Terre Haute, Culver and New Albany showed the anger and frustration Hoosiers are feeling," spokesperson Sam Barloga said in a statement. "They want to be heard, and their Republican representatives are hiding from them.
"Rep. Shreve has pressing questions he still has not answered from Hoosiers — including his millions of dollars in personal stock trades as Trump announced tariffs last month. If Rep. Shreve refuses to hold a public, in-person town hall and answer to Hoosiers' pressing concerns, voters will look to leaders who will."
Shreve told Axios met with "thousands of constituents" since being elected. "I'm on the ground, traveling across all eleven counties — and consistently hearing from our hardworking Hoosiers," he said.
The other side: Rep. Victoria Spartz, a Republican representing Indiana's 5th Congressional District, didn't heed warnings from national GOP leaders and held several public town halls this year, and she was met with protests, booing and jeering.
Republican Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith has also held several public events, including a town hall in Ellettsville last night.
Indiana Democratic Party chair Karen Tallian, elected by the state central committee in March, told Axios that people statewide are frustrated by the current political situation at the national and state levels and are looking for change.
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