GOP Leaders Said Don’t Do Town Halls. This Indiana Republican Did — and Got an Earful.

It was the town hall that wasn't supposed to happen.

For the better part of two hours Friday night, pissed-off Hoosiers jeered, chanted, and booed at Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., one of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency's most fervent supporters in Congress.

It was a case in point for why senior Republican leaders have advised their members against holding such events at all.

The one thing we hope that maybe she takes back with her is that the people are mad."

Spartz, however, is often at odds with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. She plowed through the taunts as a crowd outside shouted, Do your job!" Inside, the crowd roared in anger at mentions of Elon Musk and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

With GOP members dodging in-person town halls, the meeting offered a rare window into the depths of disgust in red districts over DOGE. Spartz represents a conservative district in a state that broke for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris by 59 percent to 40 percent.

Brian Jonasen, an Air Force veteran who has helped organize protests at the Indiana Statehouse, said, The one thing we hope that maybe she takes back with her is that the people are mad. They are angry."

Shouting at Spartz

We are not paid to do this," said Jonasen, the protest organizer.

Johnson, the House Speaker, has claimed, baselessly, that the crowds are full of paid protesters.

Earlier this month, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee told members to stop holding them, according to Politico.

They may have been hoping to avoid spectacles like the one that unfolded Friday at a packed conference center in Westfield, about 20 miles north of downtown Indianapolis.

The at-capacity crowd of 500 people at first listened respectfully as Spartz, a CPA who has made deficit reduction her signature issue, presented her concerns about federal debt.

Then Spartz started talking about DOGE - and the crowd erupted. As Musk's name was mentioned, the crowd began shouting.

Do your job!" audience members repeatedly chanted, urging her to rein in Musk and DOGE.

Within 15 minutes of starting, the town hall was so contentious that Spartz sounded a note of regret.

I'll be honest with you; I wanted to have a conversation. But if you want a screaming match, we don't have to do town halls," she said.

Spartz sidestepped a question about Trump's belief that he can impound federal funds appropriated by Congress, calling it a question for the Supreme Court. She suggested that in the long term, she hopes to pass Musk's chainsaw changes to the federal government into law.

If you want a screaming match, we don't have to do town halls."

My job is working with them to make sure we can pass proper legislation," she said.

DOGE wasn't the only question lobbed at Spartz. One attendee asked if Spartz would stick up for due process, in light of the Trump administration's attempts at mass deportation.

There is no due process if you come here illegally, because you violated the law," Spartz said. The crowd erupted in boos.

The loudest jeers of the night came in response to one audience member's question about whether Spartz would call for the resignation of members of the Signal group chat that divulged sensitive information about a strike on Yemen to an Atlantic editor.

Will you demand the immediate resignation of Pete Hegseth?" one questioner asked.

The crowd rose to its feet and roared, with scattered shouts of Lock him up!"

No, I will not demand their resignation," Spartz said. You should talk to the senators. Hopefully they'll have town halls."

Rep. DOGE

Spartz's unusual decision to hold a town hall reflected her eccentric tenure in the House.

The first Ukrainian-born member of Congress, she supported funding for the Ukrainian war effort before falling in line with Trump to oppose it.

Her office has been roiled by high turnover and allegations of bullying, leading one group to deem her Congress's worst boss." She was caught trying to carry a handgun onto a flight to Europe. She has alienated Republicans in her home base.

More recently, there may be no House member who has staked her reputation on DOGE quite like Spartz.

After winning her third term in Congress, Spartz announced in December that she would boycott committees and the GOP caucus to concentrate on supporting Musk's cost-cutting effort.

Spartz has made her presence known in other ways. She has persistently been one of the small group of GOP lawmakers threatening to tank Johnson's budget bills.

Last month, with Spartz on the bubble about whether to support a six-month continuing resolution, the outlet Puck reported that Trump yelled at her over the phone to convince her to vote for the bill. Spartz denied that account. She voted for the measure.

Town Hall Wars

Spartz got kudos from critics on Friday for facing them. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., sent boxes of donuts to troll one constituent-organized town hall. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., dodged another.

She has more intestinal fortitude than the two of those," Jonasen said. She's Ukrainian, and Ukrainians are tough."

Still, Jonasen said, her often-defiant stance has not resulted in significant breaks with Trump, pointing to her vote on the continuing resolution.

We are not seeing the results," he said.

As Republicans resort to carefully vetted tele-town halls, progressives have sensed an opening. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have begun barnstorming red districts.

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Last weekend, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar, D-Texas, announced that his group would be dispatching its members. One of Casar's own first stops is in the Texas district of ultra-conservative GOP Rep. Chip Roy.

When Republicans hide, Democrats show up," Casar said in a statement. While the GOP hides from their own constituents, progressives are heading straight into red districts to listen, engage, and fight for working people."

I was sitting on the third row and could hear protesters outside."

With the Democratic Party divided over how to respond to its defeat, for some members the town halls seem to point to a populist path forward.

Several attendees at Friday night's town hall described it as an energizing event in a district with little history of grassroots progressive politics.

One attendee, Noblesville Democratic Committee member Nocona Canady-Flatt, said Indiana has a reputation as a place that does not care much about politics.

Tonight proves differently," said Canady-Flatt. I was sitting on the third row and could hear protesters outside."

The post GOP Leaders Said Don't Do Town Halls. This Indiana Republican Did - and Got an Earful. appeared first on The Intercept.