.png)
(BETHLEHEM, PA) — At a “People’s Town Hall” on Thursday held by the Democratic National Committee, in a church located in a Pennsylvania district that Democrats lost to Republicans in 2024, party leaders fired up the crowd when slamming the White House and congressional Republicans over Medicaid, federal government cuts, and other issues.
Town halls are among the strategies that Democrats are using to try to get their base fired up against the Trump White House — but attendees there and at other events say they’re still looking for the Democratic Party to take on Republicans more directly.
DNC chair Ken Martin, speaking at the Bethlehem event, called President Donald Trump and key adviser Elon Musk “cowards,” riling up the crowd by framing the work of the duo in stark terms.
“There’s nothing moral about what these cowards are doing, and there’s nothing moral about what we saw today in Washington, D.C., as Donald Musk — Donald Trump and his president, President Musk, decided to do, signing that executive order eliminating the Department of Education, which is going to have a disproportionate impact on the disabled community and so many children throughout this country,” Martin told the crowd, amidst boos towards Trump and Musk.
And Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who received among the loudest applause of any of the panelists, took a starker tone: “Don’t let anybody tell you that we’re in a constitutional crisis,” Raskin said.
“Because that is too passive-sounding. That’s too ambiguous. This is an attack on the Constitution of the United States, and we’re going to defend the Constitution of the United States!”
Republicans face fierce pushback at in-person events
The Democratic Party claims that it’s holding these town halls as a way to hear directly from voters.
“The purpose of these town halls is not for us to spread our message, but us to hear from people throughout this country right now who are facing deep and serious impacts to their own lives, to their neighborhoods and communities, because of what this administration is doing,” Martin told ABC News on Thursday after the town hall.
But Martin and others, explicitly, are also emphasizing the idea that Democrats are showing up and hosting these events while Republicans are pulling back from hosting in-person events or facing fierce pushback from constituents when they do. Some of the loudest applause in the church on Thursday came when speakers criticized the district’s representative, Ryan Mackenzie — who in 2024 narrowly flipped the seat held by Democrat Susan Wild.
Arnaud Armstrong, a spokesman for Mackenzie, told ABC News in a statement on Wednesday that Mackenzie has answered questions at in-person events and would run a telephone town hall on Thursday night to allow for more people to speak with the congressman, including people with disabilities or seniors who might struggle to make it to an in-person event.
During that telephone town hall, Mackenzie said, “This is the best way that I have found to reach literally thousands of people at once and be able to have this kind of conversation.”
Disillusioned Democrats
The town halls come as Democratic voters show disillusion with their party.
A recent CNN/SSRS poll taken in early March found that 52% of Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents felt that the leadership of the Democrats is taking the party in the wrong direction, and that 57% felt that the party should mainly work to “stop the Republican agenda.”
While waiting in line outside to enter the town hall, some residents of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley region told ABC News that President Donald Trump’s actions struck close to home or worried them — but that they felt disillusioned with the broader Democratic response so far.
‘Very mixed feelings’ on Democrats’ response to Trump
Carole Ostfeld, a retired teacher from Allentown, Pennsylvania, came bearing a sign that said “Hands off Medicaid.” She and her husband David told ABC News that they came out to the town hall in order to protest Trump and Musk, including because of Trump’s actions with the Department of Education.
But asked how they feel about the Democratic response to the Trump administration, Carole Ostfeld said, “I’ve got very mixed feelings –“
Her husband added, “It needs to be more.”
Asked if Democrats’ messaging is resonating with them, Carole Ostfeld said it is — but, “as they say, you can’t fight city hall,” as Republicans are in power.
Another attendee, Ann Frechette of Easton, Pennsylvania, said the news about Trump signing an order to dismantle the Department of Education, which came that day, struck close to home. “I have a son in college who benefits from a Pell Grant,” she told ABC News. “And I’m afraid that that Pell Grant will disappear, that monies like that will disappear. He’s on Medicaid, I think he may lose his health insurance. There’s so many things.”
But the broader Democratic response was disillusioning her as well. While she praised some individual lawmakers, including Raskin, she added, “I think the Democrats in general, they don’t — I’m a Democrat, but my party doesn’t seem to get the message that was delivered last November. I would like people to stand up to what is being done.”
Firing up supporters
That said, the town hall itself was by many measures a success — or at least, the Democratic speakers were able to fire up their supporters.
All of the pews were filled, with some attendees standing on the back or the sides of the sanctuary; and the crowd gave thunderous standing ovations to the speakers multiple times – particularly when, for instance, Raskin spoke about taking on Trump or former Democratic Rep. Susan Wild criticized the incumbent representative.
People paid attention as audience members shared their own stories and questions, and then applauded them warmly, cheering on their peers in a clear show of support.
During a question and answer portion of the town hall, attendees raised concerns about the future of Medicaid, educational programs, and other issues.
Another attendee, Terri Neifert, told the crowd that she has lived in Bethlehem almost her entire life and became disabled after a fall at a grocery store, which changed the trajectory of her life. She said she managed to get her degree and to support her family through Medicare, food banks, and Social Security disability.
“If they cut Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps… I would lose everything,” Neifert told the crowd.
Neifert received a round of applause from the audience, and other attendees went up to her after the event wrapped to thank her for sharing her story.
Asked by ABC News after the town hall how she was feeling by then about the Democrats’ response to the Trump administration, Neifert — similar to other attendees — focused on the road ahead.
“It looks like it’s gonna be a fight, and an uphill battle… more public outcry, more marches, and Congress needs to pull up their big boy pants and start doing their job,” Neifert said.
Going on the road
Some Democrats or Democratic-aligned allies are taking a different tack than the town halls — and going on the road.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent who caucuses with Democrats, has been on the road for weeks with what he calls the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, making stops for rallies in both right- and left-leaning districts. The Democratic Party has shown support for his efforts, reposting social media posts from Sanders about the tour.
Out there on Sanders’ tour, some attendees said they’re disillusioned with the party’s response to Trump.
“They gotta be a little tougher,” one rally attendee told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl at the Denver event. Another was blunter: “Quit being a bunch of doormats.”
But — in a sign that the rallies may be a successful tactic for Democrats to reach their base — they’re attracting thousands of people. Sander’s Denver appearance, alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., brought in more than 30,000 attendees.
Sanders said it was the largest rally he’s ever hosted — bigger than the rallies on his two presidential runs.
Sanders himself has his own criticism for the Democratic Party, telling Karl in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” that the Democrats should have done more for working people when they had control of the Senate.
“And since then, do I think the Democrats have been effective in rallying the American people, in stopping Trump’s movement toward oligarchy and authoritarianism? No, I don’t,” Sanders told Karl.
Donna Brazile, a former DNC chair and an ABC News contributor, said on “This Week” after Sanders’ interview, said, “Bernie Sanders is filling a void, a major void left after, of course, the defeat of Kamala Harris last year by Donald Trump. This void has to be filled because there’s so much anger, anger not just in red districts, but also in blue districts.”
That void is one that Democrats hope to fill with these events.
Martin, asked by ABC News after the Bethlehem town hall if he thought the messages of the Democrats is going to resonate in Republican districts or with Democrats themselves, said that wasn’t really the point.
“It’s really not about the message resonating,” Martin said. “What this is about is listening to people. Hearing the concerns of Americans right now throughout this country, who deserve to be heard, right?”
Martin added later: “We’re going to fill a void for them, and we’re going to talk to more people throughout this country.”
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Isabella Murray, Jonathan Karl, Meghan Mistry and Quinn Scanlan contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.