About 20 minutes into a town hall in El Monte this week, Melissa Morgan of San Dimas picked up the microphone to address her congressman, Democrat Gil Cisneros.
\n\u201cYou seem like such an affable, kind, nice man,\u201d Morgan said, her voice hesitant at first. \u201cBut I am so angry. I am so scared. I feel our democracy is in danger. … I wish you\u2019d be angry.\u201d <\/p>\n
Morgan\u2019s voice grew stronger as she ticked off her fears: that Social Security would be cut, that the National Parks system would be ruined, that billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Governmental Efficiency would \u201cturn on\u201d Americans after accessing their Social Security numbers and employment histories.
\n\u201cI just wish that the Democrats would match my anger and my fear,\u201d she concluded. The packed room burst into applause.<\/p>\n
The Musk-led mass firings of federal workers and the looming threat of cuts to Medicare\/Medicaid and Social Security have sparked rage and fear among liberal voters, which they\u2019re directing against lawmakers of both parties.<\/p>\n
In California\u2019s deep-blue districts, town hall meetings have become venting sessions for voters fed up with Trump, Musk and the weakness of the Democratic Party. Lawmakers have tried to walk the line between showing their own anger and explaining that, with Republicans controlling the House, the Senate and the White House, there\u2019s only so much they can do.
\n\u201cIn the House of Representatives, the majority is in complete control,\u201d Cisneros said, as the crowd in El Monte muttered in displeasure. \u201cWe cannot take a bill to the floor to get voted on, because we are in the minority. The only one who makes that decision is the Speaker of the House. Anything we do, he\u2019s not going to move it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The handful of Republican officials who have had town halls have faced raucous crowds. At a recent \u201ccommunity coffee\u201d event in Yucca Valley, GOP Rep. Jay Obernolte of Big Bear Lake faced constituents shouting, \u201cNo king! No king!\u201d when Trump was mentioned. And this week, more than 25,000 people called in to a telephone town hall with Northern California Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin).
\nMost Republicans have not met with their constituents recently, on the advice of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who said that town halls \u201cgive the other side sound bites.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republican lawmakers who haven\u2019t held town halls have seen protests outside their district offices. This week, about 200 healthcare workers, their unions and their supporters protested potential cuts to Medi-Cal, as Medicaid is known in California, outside the Anaheim Hills office of Rep. Young Kim.
\nJosephine Rios, a nursing assistant who has worked at Kaiser Permanente in Orange County for seven years, said she attended the protest on behalf of her 7-year-old grandson, Elijah, who has cerebral palsy.
\nRios said she worried that cuts to Medi-Cal would make his medication unaffordable. Rios said she felt betrayed by Kim, for whom she voted in November.<\/p>\n
The budget blueprint that passed Congress this month calls for $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. Although Trump has said he doesn\u2019t support making cuts to Medicaid, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that cost savings of that magnitude would only be possible through such cuts.<\/p>\n
Democratic leaders hope that they can tap into the simmering rage over Trump, Musk and the Department of Governmental Efficiency to help their party retake the House in the 2026 midterm elections. But the party first must overcome historically bad popularity ratings.
\nOne CNN poll conducted in early March found that 29% of Americans had a favorable view of the Democratic Party, down from 33% in January.<\/p>\n
During a new episode of California Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s podcast that aired Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said the reason the popularity of Democrats is plummeting is because of the loss of confidence among members of their own party.
\n\u201cThe Democratic Party is unified \u2014 they\u2019re unified in being pissed off at the Democrats,\u201d Walz said. And, he added, \u201cThey are unified in that Donald Trump\u2019s policies are going to hurt people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doris Anderson, 81, turned away from Cisneros and told the crowd at the town hall that voters should begin an economic boycott of companies like Amazon. Billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post, helped bankroll Trump\u2019s inauguration.
\n\u201cThe Congress, they\u2019re limited in what they can do \u2014 but you can stop spending,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n
The town hall meeting ended with constituents still seeking concrete actions from their representatives. Kaime Welsh, 26, of La Verne, stood up to ask: \u201cCan we list one action that you and the Democrats in Congress have taken? In plain English, no stories, no metaphors. What is one action?\u201d
\nCisneros said he\u2019d spoken out against Musk and the Department of Governmental Efficiency from the floor of the House. Part of the problem, he said, is that some constituents weren\u2019t hearing about what the Democrats were doing \u2014 and others were but felt they didn\u2019t go far enough.
\nPatrick Fernandez of La Verne told Cisneros that the Democrats were \u201ccandy-coating\u201d and \u201cafraid to call things what they are.\u201d That reluctance, he said, \u201cdoes a disservice not just to us in this moment \u2014 it does a disservice to posterity that\u2019s going to be looking back on this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: What is the main reason for the voter fury in California?
\nA: The main reason for the voter fury in California is the looming threat of cuts to Medicare\/Medicaid and Social Security, as well as the mass firings of federal workers led by Elon Musk.
\nQ: Why are Democratic lawmakers struggling to address the concerns of their constituents?
\nA: Democratic lawmakers are struggling to address the concerns of their constituents because they are in the minority in the House of Representatives and have limited power to pass legislation.
\nQ: What is the Democratic Party’s strategy to retake the House in the 2026 midterm elections?
\nA: The Democratic Party hopes to tap into the simmering rage over Trump, Musk, and the Department of Governmental Efficiency to help their party retake the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
\nQ: Why is the popularity of the Democratic Party plummeting?
\nA: The popularity of the Democratic Party is plummeting due to the loss of confidence among members of their own party.
\nQ: What can voters do to make a difference, according to Doris Anderson?
\nA: According to Doris Anderson, voters can begin an economic boycott of companies like Amazon to make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to Voter Fury About 20 minutes into a town hall in El Monte this week, Melissa Morgan of San Dimas picked up the microphone to address her congressman, Democrat Gil Cisneros. \u201cYou seem like such an affable, kind, nice man,\u201d Morgan said, her voice hesitant at first. \u201cBut I am so angry. I am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/a08fc77\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5862x3078+0+415\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6d%2F53%2Fe46086a34e17960f138a3e1c05ea%2F1498784-me-cisneros-town-hall-2-gmf.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10510,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10508\/revisions\/10510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}