Hinson encounters mixed reactions at town hall
Rep. Ashley Hinson held a town hall in Elkader on May 28.
Hinson received both applause and jeers during the town hall, which began with a 20-minute recap of hers and the Trump Administration’s work the past few months, followed by questions.
By Willis Patenaude | Times-Register
Despite reported calls from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in March to avoid town halls due to increasing confrontations, Rep. Ashley Hinson was at the Elkader Opera House May 28, marking her 44th town hall, up to that point, in Iowa’s second district. She stressed the importance of remaining “transparent and accessible” to constituents.
Introduced by Elkader Mayor Josh Pope, along with State Senator Mike Klimesh, Hinson took to the podium amid applause from the crowd. Overall, the hour-long event was a mixed bag of cheers and jeers.
Hinson’s opening remarks lasted for nearly 20 minutes, much to the dismay of the most vocal in the crowd, who shouted “questions” several times. She spoke about how the fight in Washington is a “fight for the soul of our nation,” how Iowa is a model for the rest of the country and how President Donald Trump is “working for the people.”
Hinson also touched on the administration’s efforts to “protect the integrity of girls sports” and on immigration and border crossings, stating the “country is on the path to being safer” while touting passage of the Laken Riley Act.
Perhaps the issue that prompted the largest rebuke from critics in the crowd was the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB) that recently passed the House and the work of Elon Musk at DOGE, or “doggie,” as one crowd member mocked during the question-and-answer session. Hinson defended the BBB and remarked, “I can’t believe you would boo tax relief.”
She also highlighted several benefits, including no tax on tips and tax relief for seniors. Though Hinson said Democrats will “continue to lie about the bill being a tax cut for the wealthy,” she claimed the bill did not impact the top tax rate at all, instead making small business tax relief permanent and preventing the death tax from hurting small family farms in Iowa.
The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, received the loudest boos of the day, with multiple people shouting “lies” as Hinson spoke. Hinson spoke of the positive feedback she received elsewhere about DOGE, like a chamber of commerce event in Linn County. She highlighted several of the cost saving efforts and some of the reported fraud, waste and abuse that was found and eliminated, though the crowd either didn’t believe Hinson or didn’t care about her statement that money was being spent on a DEI opera in Ireland.
Even though Hinson attempted to express the bipartisan nature of exposing government fraud, waste and abuse, citing former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not as endorsers of DOGE but as advocates of fighting the problem, DOGE itself remains a hot button issue for Republicans.
After the lengthy opening speech, Hinson took questions, starting with a resident from Marquette who respectfully thanked Hinson for her service even though they disagree on a lot of issues. She asked about several measures “Republicans slipped” into the BBB Hinson voted for, including making it “exorbitantly expensive to sue the Trump administration,” while potentially invalidating injunctions against the administration. The woman also mentioned Trump’s executive orders, which she found to be “illegal and against our constitution,” and criticized Trump’s treatment of judges, asking Hinson what she will do to protect those judges from Trump’s “vindictiveness.”
Hinson’s response was interrupted multiple times, prompting even the woman who asked the question to ask them to stop. The congresswoman focused on limiting activist judges and their ability to “put a stop to policies for the entire country,” similarly to what occurred under President Joe Biden’s administration, where federal judges in Kansas and Missouri blocked student loan forgiveness for the entire country. Instead, Hinson noted the need for injunctive relief and to make the process more efficient.
“I want to make sure that we’re not seeing activist judges, no matter who is in office, put a stop to policies,” Hinson said.
Another question on the BBB followed from Nick Larson from Walker, a lifelong Iowan who expressed frustration at rising insurance costs, which are “killing Iowans,” he said. Larson mentioned his own rising costs associated with the potential passage of the BBB, which still needs to clear the Senate. Larson stated the bill would result in a $4,000 tax increase for his family, along with an 88 percent increase in homeowner’s insurance and 86 percent increase in his farm building and equipment insurance. Despite making several calls to Hinson’s office, he had yet to receive a reply.
“I’m one of your constituents. I’m about as Iowan as you can get. Quite frankly, you owe me an answer today,” Larson said.
Hinson, at first, deflected the lack of response, suggesting the error was on Larson, but added that responding is something she prides herself on. Hinson talked about the bad weather Iowa has been having, which flummoxed the crowd due to its lack of relevance to the question, before eventually getting around to the necessity for lowering premiums and prescription drug prices through Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reform efforts. She also offered to hand out a fact sheet, and when questioned by Larson how any of that helps with the increases, she offered to have follow-up conversations.
Throughout the town hall session, concerns related to the BBB were prominent. While Hinson argued there is a lot of “fear mongering” regarding it, there were personal anecdotes from those who asked questions, like a family from Edgewood who saw insurance costs increase when their father was switched to Molina Healthcare, and on his death received a bill of $72,000. Hinson indicated a willingness to add the family’s concerns to her casework.
That was just one of many stories heard about the impact of rising health care costs and the anxiety among those in attendance about potential cuts to Medicaid and Social Security.
