Back when a Republican still represented Colorado in the U.S. Senate, something bizarre stood in the way of then-Sen. Cory Gardner’s path to reelection: a cardboard cutout of himself.
Starting in early 2017, after Donald Trump first became president, an activist began carrying around the life-sized cutout, hosting mock town halls with it while, for over a year, Gardner wouldn’t organize one of his own. When Gardner finally buckled to the pressure and hosted three in-person town halls in one day, he was shouted down and drowned out by angry voters. He would go on to lose the 2020 election to Democrat John Hickenlooper, drawing only 44% of the vote.
Nearly eight weeks into Trump’s return to office, Colorado Democrats want to use that sort of tactic again.
“That’s the kind of thing we’ve got to do at town halls all around the state,” Hickenlooper said during his own virtual town hall last week, in reference to “Cardboard Cory.” “I think then they become more afraid of you — of us — than of Trump.”
Political operatives on both sides of the aisle have long seen town halls as a tool to make waves and regain their footing in the public square when they lack legislative power. While Republicans have faced the pressure of town halls in years when Trump is in office, in 2009, it was Democrats whose forums began being swarmed by the conservative Tea Party movement during President Barack Obama’s first term.
This winter, after several instances of intense backlash over Trump’s policies at town halls throughout the country, national Republican campaign leaders urged members to host virtual town halls instead of in-person events. They’ve accused Democrats of organizing protests and paying “troublemakers” to attend.
While liberal groups openly encourage people to attend town halls and offer strategic tips on how to prepare for the events, there hasn’t been evidence made public of people being paid to attend.
In Colorado, Republicans are so far following the advice from national GOP leaders. Two of the four Republican representatives from the state, Jeff Crank and Jeff Hurd, have both hosted events only virtually. The other two, Lauren Boebert and Gabe Evans, haven’t hosted any this year.
Spokespeople for Boebert and Evans have said both plan to host events soon.
“We will do townhalls and we will do them in a way that allows constituents’ concerns to be heard without being drowned out by yelling activists,” said Delanie Bomar, a spokeperson for Evans.
Evans, who narrowly defeated Rep. Yadira Caraveo in November to represent Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, is one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress. Protests and online campaigns demanding that he host a town hall have already begun.
Republican seeks “a productive dialogue”
Hurd, who succeeded Boebert in Congress in January after she moved to another district, hosted his first town hall on Tuesday night, answering both friendly and pointed questions in a virtual hearing. About 1,000 of the 7,500 people who took part were people from outside the district, according to his staff.
Laila Elagamy, a spokesperson for Hurd, said the congressman’s staff didn’t vet questions before the event.
Hurd, who lives in Grand Junction, answered questions about the firing of U.S. Forest Service employees and other stewards of federal public lands and about immigration, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, firearms and Medicaid.
He also faced direct questions asking when he would host an in-person town hall.
He opened the hearing with an emphasis on how vast his district is — stretching from Trinidad, near the New Mexico border, up to northwest Colorado’s Moffat County and the borders of Wyoming and Utah. He said a tele-town hall allowed him to hear from constituents across the district.
“I think it’s important for me to see folks face-to-face,” Hurd said in response to a caller’s question. “What I would say is, I want to make sure that it’s a productive dialogue and that we’re talking about issues that I’m hearing from my constituents — and that we’re not devolving into political theater.”
Several Colorado Democrats have seized on the line that Republicans aren’t hosting enough town halls.
Attorney General Phil Weiser, who in January announced he’s running for governor in 2026, said it plainly at an in-person town hall hosted by Rep. Brittany Pettersen on March 8 at a Lakewood high school.
“Here’s the split screen I want: Thousands of people here to support Brittany Pettersen flying to D.C. with her baby to stand up for the rule of law. On the other screen is Republican members of Congress, afraid to hold town halls because they don’t want to answer to the harms that they are complicit in,” he said, according to a video of the event. Pettersen’s office said more than 1,800 people attended.
Rep. Jason Crow made a similar comment during his event Feb. 27 to a packed auditorium at an Aurora high school, an event that was also streamed online.
“If they make a decision to stop doing town halls — to stop showing up — then don’t let them go anywhere without you showing up,” he said.
Democrats face pressure, too
Republicans aren’t the only ones susceptible to attacks at town halls, though. Colorado Democrats are facing their own pressures and concerns over the events.
At the in-person town hall for Pettersen, former Congressman Ed Perlmutter opened the event by warning any protestors they would be removed.
“We should just be prepared,” he said. “In the past, they’ve been very loud and boisterous. Their goal is to interrupt.”
Democrats and Republicans have also prescreened at least some of the questions asked at forums. In part, that’s to avoid meandering, repeated or hyperspecific questions during a time-constrained hearing. But it also allows them to maintain control over what is asked.
In their recent town halls, whether convened in person or remotely, staffers for Hickenlooper, Pettersen, Crow and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet all screened the questions asked.
While Bennet’s office said staffers don’t do any question-choosing for in-person events, they do so during virtual forums because of how many more people chime in.
For the in-person events, the senator takes unfiltered questions because he’s “old school,” said spokesperson Larkin Parker. He’ll get chances to do that on three evenings this week, with in-person town halls announced for Tuesday in Greeley, Wednesday in Golden and Thursday in Colorado Springs.
“If someone takes the mic and yells at him, he’s totally fine with that,” she said. “It seems to bring the temperature of the room down when everyone knows it’s an at-random process.”
In 2010, Bennet was one of the senators who faced immense criticism from Tea Party devotees at his town halls over his votes supporting Obama’s agenda. The group organized mass gatherings across the country opposing government initiatives like the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Speaking to his constituents over YouTube this week, Hickenlooper apologized for not hosting the event in person, saying he hadn’t returned to Colorado because the Senate was in session.
Throughout the hourlong event, Hickenlooper faced mounting pressure from voters who said he wasn’t doing enough to stop Trump’s agenda.
As Colorado’s junior Democratic senator described the many lawsuits challenging Trump’s slashing of the federal government, one viewer replied: “Be angrier. The country is dying.”
When Hickenlooper said Democrats should use social media to apply pressure on Republican lawmakers, another commenter quipped, “Oh good, Hickenlooper is retweeting. We’re saved.”
Hickenlooper’s messaging — decrying the slashing of grant dollars, the “insulting” cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Trump’s criticism of Ukraine — appeared to land with a thud. Midway through the town hall, one woman was filling the YouTube comment section with an all-caps response to Hickenlooper’s explanations: “WE KNOW.”
The senator had drawn heat on social media earlier Wednesday when he told the Washington Post that he didn’t know how he would vote on the budget showdown. By the town hall, he’d shifted, pledging to vote no on Republicans’ spending bill and on a procedural vote that would end the Democratic filibuster.
He and Bennet continued to oppose it later in the week as some other Democrats’ opposition began to soften.
Pettersen also faced harsh questions last weekend over the party’s strategy to combat Trump.
The congresswoman was interrupted by a shouting audience member when she was answering a question about whether party leadership was accepting defeat.
“We are limited — I think that’s trying to set expectations,” she responded. “But we are not powerless. It is really all of you who are going to help elevate the voices of people. People like you showing up across the country.”
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