Although Rep. Martha McSally declared “Let’s get this fucking thing done.” on the morning of the House of Representative’s vote on Trumpcare, she has avoided meeting with constituents in her own district in Arizona. Since her district cast less than 50 percent of its votes for Trump, Rep. Ruben Gallego, a democrat from another Arizona district, chose to interact with her constituents. The Arizona Democratic Party organized an event in her district to engage with the people that the congresswoman appears to have no interest in reckoning with.
Gallego’s action built upon the efforts of another democrat in New York, where Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney held a town hall meeting in a district where its republican congressman, Rep. John Faso, refuses to hold public events. Maloney asked the crowd “Where the heck is your congressman?”
In previous political eras, holding events in districts outside one’s own would have been seen as rude and inappropriate, explained Gallego, but times have changed. He said new tactics are called for because the president is a pathological liar and the Speaker of the House supports the lies coming out of the Republican Party.
Democrats view the unwillingness of Republicans to meet with constituents as an opportunity. Republican votes to alter existing health care laws have angered many members of the public, and the representatives fear engaging with them. As a result, democrats want to communicate their message and disgrace the so-called representatives that disregard feedback from their own districts.