U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan will host a town hall next week, but it won’t be in person.
Instead, Bresnahan, a Luzerne County Republican who represents the 8th Congressional District, will host a telephone town hall Tuesday, March 25, at 5:30 p.m.
“In today’s public environment, there are a lot of external voices who speak about Congress,” Bresnahan said in a statement. “I want to be sure my constituents can hear directly from me. A telephone town hall is the best way to reach the largest number of constituents, and it is important to me to hear from as many voices as possible. I am looking forward to having a conversation and speaking directly with the people I represent.”
At a news conference two weeks ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson encouraged House Republicans to avoid in-person town halls. He argued professional protesters take over the forums.
“We’ve seen this movie before,” Johnson said at a news conference. “So why would we give them a forum to do that right now?”
Across the country, protesters concerned about President Donald Trump’s administration’s federal program slashing through Elon Musk have thronged public town halls hosted by members of Congress.
In a statement Friday, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin accused House Republicans of selling out their voters “by backing the Trump-Musk agenda.”
“(A)nd now they’re terrified to be in the same room as the people who sent them to Washington,” he said.
Martin promised “people’s town halls in all 50 states across the country, starting now with vulnerable GOP-held target districts.”
The districts include Bresnahan’s and the 7th district represented by Ryan Mackenzie, a first-term congressman like Bresnahan. Both are considered competitive districts.
No similar Democratic town hall is planned for the 9th or 15th districts, both represented by Republican congressmen. Dan Meuser represents the 9th Thompson, the 15th. Neither is considered a competitive district.
Hannah Pope, Bresnahan’s spokeswoman, denied he’s following Johnson’s advice. Rather, a telephone town hall allows Bresnahan to hear from more people, she said.
“We don’t answer to the DNC (Democratic National Committee), nor will we give a platform to a bunch of extremist political operatives looking to throw a public temper tantrum,” Pope said.
The news release announcing the town hall says Bresnahan has attend more than 40 public events or meetings in all five of the district’s counties.
The 8th district, home to about 765,000 people, covers all of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike counties; roughly the eastern half of Luzerne County, including Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and Hazleton; and all of Monroe County, except for Polk and Eldred townships and part of Ross Township.
The decision to host a telephone town hall continues a recent history of Republican and Democratic congressmen nationwide and in Northeast Pennsylvania avoiding in-person versions.
Former U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, a Democrat, and Bresnahan’s predecessor, and other former area congressman such as Republican Lou Barletta — and, in his later years, Democrat Paul Kanjorski — rarely hosted public town halls.
Cartwright occasionally hosted telephone town halls or “coffee klatch” meetings in smaller settings.
Bresnahan’s news release says his telephone town hall is the first for the 8th district in more than four years.
Besides availability on the phone, Bresnahan plans to broadcast the town hall simultaneously on his Facebook. To sign up for the phone town hall, go to his website. The page screens would-be listener by address, forbidding anyone from outside the district from signing up. Addresses within the district receive a second signup page requiring a name, email address and telephone number.
Addresses outside the district receive a different message.
“The address entered indicates that you reside outside the district. Due to the large volume of U.S. mail, emails and faxes we receive, we are only able to accept messages from residents of the district.
“If you are a resident of another district, we encourage you to use the Find Your Representative Service available at www.House.gov to learn how to contact your Representative in Congress.”
