Americas Rowdy Town Halls: More Organic Than Organized

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The White House and prominent Republicans have largely dismissed the noisy eruption of civic activism at town-hall meetings across the U.S. as the work of professional organizers and paid activists, partly because MoveOn and other liberal groups have offered help.

Interviews by The Wall Street Journal at Mr. Lance’s town hall and similar events across the U.S. suggest otherwise. Many participants were first-timers who echo in passion, though not in politics, the people who emerged early in the tea-party movement in 2009, when unhappy voters banded together against what they saw as government overreach by the Obama administration.

Of about 40 voters interviewed Wednesday at Mr. Lance’s town hall, most said they had never participated in a town hall or any political activism and had only recently joined or started local groups. They shared an opposition to Trump administration positions, including on the health-care law, the environment and the stalled travel ban, and offer a warning sign for the Republican Party. Paid organizers? “I wouldn’t even know how to find them,” said Margaret Illis, 55 years old, who was among the town-hall rookies. She said her 23-year-old son taught her how to use Twitter so she could follow Mr. Trump’s tweets.

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Several state and national groups are working to connect these new activists online. They publicize meetings and events, and host online seminars on ways to influence members of Congress.

Some are new, such as Indivisibles, which was formed late last year by former congressional Democratic staff members in the wake of Mr. Trump’s election. Others include such established liberal groups as MoveOn, Organizing for Action and Planned Parenthood, which seek to preserve the health-care law and derail Mr. Trump’s legislative agenda.

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Democrats were late to recognizing voter anger at Mr. Obama, and the electoral wave that later seized the House from their control in 2010.

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Nonetheless, Republicans see the danger of a newly energized political opposition and are urging their party to step up to the challenge. “You’ve got to match the energy on the left with the energy from the right,” said Republican Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas on Thursday at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-rowdy-town-halls-more-organic-than-organized-1487881129