In an interview Thursday with WDBJ, Congressman Ben Cline responded to the large demonstrations throughout the Sixth District calling on him to hold in-person town hall meetings with his constituents.
From the WDBJ report:
Cline said while some of the protesters want to come in and meet with him, he feels many of them, including organizers, aren’t interested in having a conversation with him and only want to have their political opinions heard.
“I listen to everybody, and I welcome their viewpoints, but I won’t have my town hall meetings, which I’ve had dozens and dozens of over the years, used as platforms by one side or the other to attack one side or the other. That’s not what my town halls are for,” said Cline.
The last town hall Cline held in Roanoke was in November.
“It wasn’t six months ago that I was here in Roanoke City having a town hall. I didn’t see any of the folks out front at that town hall, but I welcome them to come in and sit down and have an exchange of ideas. We will be scheduling town halls in the future, no doubt,” said Cline.
Obviously Cline prefers tightly controlled meetings with small groups of “agitated liberals” (his words) rather than large open gatherings where he will be forced to listen and respond to dreaded “political opinions” from a wide range of constituents. And just as obviously he doesn’t want any media coverage of him dealing with difficult questions about his record and his sycophantic support for Trump.
More obvious still, Cline has watched fellow congressional Republicans – even those representing deep-red districts – face large crowds of unhappy constituents, and he doesn’t want to have to do the same. At least for now.
But, OK. Let’s take Cline up on his pledge to schedule town halls “in the future, no doubt.”
He promised this on April 24, 2025. The calendar is now ticking.
Gene Zitver is the editor of ClineWatch.
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