This is an article from the May 2025 Civitas Examiner (Volume 2, No. 2) and was written by one of our students, Emily N. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. To read more Civitas Examiner stories or to submit your own, click here.
When law enforcement escorted Jay Carey from his verbal brawl with North Carolina congressman Chuck Edwards, the U.S. army veteran left the town hall with no regrets.
Yelling “Do your job!” in a now-viral video of the fiasco, Carey admitted that the ordeal was “the only way to really get [Edwards’s] attention.”
The forum ejecting Carey is part of a town hall trend that Republicans have been told to halt by House Speaker Mike Johnson, following explosive confrontations from constituents.
These town halls, held in majority-red districts, have faced fiery uproar from their community members, largely upset with their lawmakers for complying with federal spending cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency and its de facto head, Elon Musk.
President Donald Trump has dismissed the commotions as a result of ”paid troublemakers” while other Republican leaders have accused Democrats of arranging the protests. Carey was primarily upset about slashes to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, who provide benefits and healthcare to veterans just like himself.
In response to the town hall scrap, national and state-level Democratic organizations have announced a series of “in-person public events” in predominantly red districts. Among the first of these “People’s Town Halls” was an April 25th event held in Republican Representative Ann Wagner’s district at the DoubleTree Hotel in Chesterfield, Missouri.
Nearly 1,600 constituents waited outside the venue under a light drizzle, waiting to be seated in the hotel’s conference center or a separate overload space.
The crowd welcomed numerous guest speakers with applause, including Missouri State Senator Tracy McCreery and Missouri Democratic Party Chair Russ Carnahan, who rallied residents in preparation for Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), the politician leading this tour of nationwide forums.
While he is not Bernie Sanders, who has recently drawn crowds of over 30,000 people with his and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Fighting Oligarchy Tour, Murphy said that he still has “an obligation to try to go out and support a national mobilization” in an interview with the Connecticut Mirror and Associated Press.
The gathering in Chesterfield featured a question and answer period but largely challenged Representative Wagner’s decade-long absence from public forums and further invigorated local Democrats in preparation for the 2026 midterm. Chuck Summers, a potential Democratic candidate vying for Wagner’s seat, could even be seen handing out his own campaign literature to event goers.
Organized by local Democratic groups from St. Louis, St. Charles, Warren, and Franklin counties, the event opened with a speech from political consultant Fred Wellman, who acted as the master of ceremonies.
While Representative Wagner denounced the forum as a “political stunt” and a “contrived Democrat spectacle,” local Democrats say otherwise.
“In a district where the sitting representative, Ann Wagner, has never held a public town hall, this kind of forum is a rare and meaningful opportunity to speak up, ask tough questions, and connect directly with someone in office, even if they serve another state,” said Amanda Taylor, who ran for the Missouri House of Representatives to represent District 103 in 2024.
Taylor was inaugurated last week as a Ward 4 O’Fallon City Council Member, presiding over areas that encompass Highway K and Knaust Road. She defeated 6-year incumbent Jim Ottomeyer with nearly 58% of the vote during the April municipal election.
While the prospect of a blue town hall in a red state like Missouri may seem unproductive, “just because a region trends Republican doesn’t mean it lacks political diversity,” Taylor pointed out.
Despite the state of Missouri voting for Donald Trump by 18 points, Senator Murphy upheld that “every state, every district matters” in an interview with Jason Rosenbaum, a politics correspondent for the St. Louis Public Radio.
“Events like this town hall show that Democrats in Missouri are engaged, organized, and eager for representation that truly reflects their voices,” Taylor added.
Though redistricting in 2022 left the district feasibly winnable by Wagner, the Chesterfield event came at a time when the district had just earned a spot on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s most targeted districts list for 2026.
Taylor maintained that “the key to success lies in running a Democrat who can truly connect with suburban voters, someone with moderate views and a strong focus on local issues that matter most to families.” She specified “proposed cuts to Medicaid” and “slashes to the Department of Education” as two issues that will harm many Missourians.
Democrats looking to win Ann Wagner’s district will have to target the issues that stem from Republican leadership and that pose “real threats to families, workers, and students.”
Voters are searching for someone who will not only represent them but, at the very least, will show up for them.
“Where is Ann?” the crowd asked.
