As recently as late November 2019, Congressman John Rutherford told a reporter, “I don’t do town halls because they’re so dysfunctional.” And because his district is gerrymandered in his favor, he could get away with that. There were grumblings on Twitter and on the call-in shows, but he had never faced a serious opponent since he was first elected in—you guessed it—2016.
But suddenly there’s a political newcomer, a native of the district, a compelling 20-year on-air news anchor with incredible name recognition challenging him. Donna Deegan came off the sidelines the day after Rutherford, the former Duval County Sheriff, and some other folks who need not be named were elected. She worked her fingers to the bone for Andrew Gillum, and helped turn Duval County Blue, twice, defying all conventional wisdom. She is beloved locally and nationally for the millions raised by her breast cancer foundation for groundbreaking research and assistance to women undergoing treatment. And because she is a 3X breast cancer survivor herself, she knows a thing or two about health care, her keynote campaign issue.
Donna jumped into this race in Mid-November. The early enthusiasm for her campaign caused Rep. Rutherford to re-think his stance on town halls. His team scheduled one for 1/23/20 in a subdivision called Nocatee in a deeply red county, thinking they would be among their people. What the team did not know was that this Community with it’s Splash Park, walking trails and Top in Florida Schools is home to hundreds of young families, and an 800+ Blue Wave Coalition group who were eager to see their Congressman in the flesh, and had a few questions.
Rutherford and his team must have heard rumblings, because what was first billed as a “public town hall” with questions from the floor was quickly converted to a meeting open only to those with Nocatee resident IDs, with written questions curated by a moderator. The result was predictable: an anodyne event, with Rutherford sticking to his script and to safe, predictable questions from his supporters. They were met by 30+ protestors with signs, which on a 45 degree night in NE Florida is saying something.
Per @DaveRogers:
Q: Feelings about gun control?
A: love the 2nd Amendment. Riffing about national registry of firearms and how dangerous he thinks that would be (applause). Goes into a semi-technical description of HR-8(?) that I can’t follow except it’s bad. Now riffing on govt institutions
One of saddest comments from Rutherford event..."the only people making minimum wage are young entry-level people. No reason to increase minimum wage". And Reps in audience clapped. How can an elected official be this unaware? Fortunately there were a lot of boos to this comment.
I visited with the protestors and took these photos. They didn’t all live in the subdivision, but they all live in the Congressman’s District, most within a few miles. I recognized most from other Blue Wave events. These folks are not on George Soros’ payroll, regardless of what Rutherford’s team might like to tell themselves. They’re his constituents.
More from @Daverpvb:
What?? This is news. How will this work? One per district—K-12? Sounds expensive, and which teachers will be forced to teach in these petri-dishes of viruses and germs?
@Daverpvb again:
Says he’s against the government telling us what to do. Applause. Woman asks if he feels that way about abortion. A: No. He’s pro-life. Govt can tell a woman what to do with her body because fetus, I guess. Almost a town hall breaking out. People asking questions from audience
And it’s over. Polite applause. Underwhelming. Very few q’s from my side. I submitted two copies of four questions. None picked.