Our Empty Chair Town Hall Meeting…In JD Vance's Hometown

Report from the Front Lines

Boy, was American democracy on display last night in JD Vance’s hometown—Middletown, Ohio.

Patriotism at its best.

But even though he was invited in numerous ways—included certified mail…

—so we know he got the invite—Warren Davidson, the House member for the community and the (highly gerrymandered) Eighth Congressional district, didn’t show up. He missed out.

A special carve out to the map happens to be where the Congressman lives..

We even left a chair for him, but it sat empty for two hours.

But that didn’t stop hundreds from coming from multiple counties….and we had a town hall anyway!

And it was electric.

I started off by explaining that like too many in this age of extreme gerrymandering, this member of Congress has been exercising power without accountability his entire career in Congress::

And then we gave the citizens of the district the rare opportunity to ask questions of their so-called “representative.”

They asked questions about everything from federal workers’ rights to the cutting of cancer research to climate change to gerrymandering to Pete Hegseth. They were truly excellent and deeply informed questions, often leading to loud audience applause:

And even though he wasn’t there, we asked AI—as we called it, “ChatGOP”—to draw from Warren Davidson’s public statements to approximate the answer he might provide if he’d bothered to show up here, or at any town hall. We thought his constituents had a right to hear what he’s been saying elsewhere:

And then your’s truly had the opportunity to fact check each response. Which I was only too happy to do. Here was part of my fact check of ChatGOP’s above response on the SAVE Act:

We also had an incredible group of leaders from across the community bravely and boldly share their concerns—on workers’ rights, immigration, voting rights, and some of the worst cuts to community programs by DOGE. A local minister explained how so much of the current right-wing policies run afoul of essential Bible verses and themes.

Two college students also spoke. Here was a Miami senior calling out the no-show Congressman, and speaking out the attacks on higher Ed at both the federal and state level:

And at the end, we called on one another to keep showing up. At meetings and protests, but also when it comes to grassroots organizing within communities like this one. Come election time, we must show up, engage voters and hold out-of-touch politicians like Warren Davidson accountable.

It was a wonderful event—as much from the energy emanating from the crowd as any words that were said. As I’ve written about the protests across the country, courage is contagious. “When people see other people on the streets they feel braver to take action themselves.”

I could feel that last night. Lots of new faces. Activists meeting one another. People energized being with others—hearing their own questions asked and addressed, watching others bravely stand up. People leaving hungry to do more.

As I said at the top, this was American democracy at work. I was so honored to be a part of it.

Well done Butler County Democrats.

And try doing something like this in your neck of the woods.