Florida Democrats launched statewide town halls as part of a coordinated effort by the Democratic Party to host “People’s Town Halls” in all 50 states.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said the hundreds of bipartisan Floridians who are attending these town halls are frustrated but appreciative that “if Republicans aren’t going to show up – we are.” Fried told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that leadership is critical during this moment of “constitutional crisis.”
She urged both Democrat and Republican leaders to show up, listen and fight for their constituents in Washington, D.C.
“[There] is a disconnect between what is happening in Washington, D.C., and the frustrations and the fears and the anger of the people on the ground. I’m always going to challenge my Democratic electeds to step up and do more. That is our job,” Fried said. “The people of this nation are expecting their elected officials to stand up right now, whether it is fighting in Washington, D.C., or it is coming home and giving answers to your constituents or finding ways to provide services to your constituents that may be cut by the federal level or even here in the state of Florida.”
One by one, at a Clearwater town hall on Saturday, Pinellas County constituents took turns addressing a “missing” poster of Rep. Ana Paulina Luna, R-Fla., expressing discontent with President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Conservatives on social media slammed the “missing” posters as “nothing authentic or compelling.”
DEM LEADER SWINGS THROUGH GOP-HELD DISTRICTS AFTER ‘CLOWN SHOW PROTESTS’ HALTED TOWN HALLS
“I have never seen the national Democratic Party in such chaos and confusion. Whether it’s childish stunts on the floor of Congress or performance art with their fake town halls, there is nothing authentic or compelling about their message, their tactics, or their delivery,” Republican consultant Frank Luntz replied on X to photos from the event.
Luntz compared the Democrats’ latest move to holding posters during Trump’s joint address to Congress and the coordinated effort by protest groups to disrupt Republican town halls. Others on social media called it “embarrassing.” Luna’s spokesperson said she has been available at “numerous events” and the Florida representative doesn’t “work for the leftist mob.”
HEAR THE DEATH THREATS REPUBLICAN SENATOR RECEIVED ABOUT TRUMP
“Congresswoman Luna is not scared of leftist carpetbaggers,” a spokesperson for Luna’s office told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Outside groups have been using robo-callers and non-constituent activists to scream profanities and sexist slurs at her office. Meanwhile, Tim Walz’s vaunted ‘town hall’ was closed to the public.”
“The reality is that Congresswoman Luna is hard at work for the people of Florida’s 13th district, tackling issues from beach renourishment to preparations for hurricane season. Additionally, she is actively working with the Trump administration to fix FEMA and waive the 50% rule. She is being awarded a key to the county because of her efforts. Congresswoman Luna has been publicly available at numerous events where constituents can freely talk with her, regardless of who they voted for. She doesn’t work for the leftist mob and doesn’t answer to the fake, billionaire-funded “grassroots” groups that pay people to be their pawns,” the spokesperson added.
“Obviously, they’re not missing,” Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power told Fox News Digital. “They’ve been in Washington voting. I felt the one in Miami was particularly tasteless when they put Mario Díaz-Balart on a missing poster. I mean, he buried his brother seven days before that. So I thought it was pretty tasteless that they did it that way.”
Rep. Díaz-Balart represents Florida’s 26th Congressional District. He delivered the eulogy for his brother, former Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, at a Memorial Mass at the Corpus Christi Catholic Church on Saturday, March 8. His photo appeared on a “missing” poster during a town hall in Miami-Dade County the following Saturday.
Other “missing” posters included images of Reps. Carlos Giménez and María Elvira Salazar. Florida Democrats have planned about a dozen town halls since the statewide campaign launched last Friday.
“While Florida Dems do townhalls, Florida Republicans win elections. Being present on the ground is what matters and that is why the Florida GOP has a historic 1.2 million voter registration advantage, two mind blowing Republican super majorities in the state legislature, and a full Republican cabinet. While Florida Dems talk, Florida Republicans walk the walk. It works for us!” Power told Fox News Digital in a statement.
CHAOS ERUPTS AT GOP LAWMAKER’S TOWN HALL AFTER LEFT-WING GROUPS PROMOTE PROTESTS
The Florida GOP Chair touted their November success and said Congressional Republicans are “doing their job” while Democrats are hosting “fake town halls.”
“They’re not leaving Floridians because they know that these people were elected by wide margins, and they’re doing their job in Congress. Just because they’re not coming to do fake town halls does not mean they’re not doing their jobs,” Power said.
Fried shut down the Republican critics who called the town hall “stunts.”
“These aren’t stunts,” she said. “These are people with real issues that have real concerns. The fact that the Republican Party of Florida is saying that their voices don’t matter and want to play partisan politics – we invited them too. This is something where the community has to come together, and if the Republicans that are elected into office won’t listen to their constituents and understand the impact that their complacency of these moments are having on their everyday lives, then they don’t deserve to be in office.”
Fried told Fox News Digital “shame on” Republicans for not returning home to have the “uncomfortable” conversations.
“The fact that they’re not coming back to listen to those individuals and the people that put them into office, shame on them,” Fried said. “Even if it’s going to be uncomfortable, that’s okay. You get through these moments, and you make a better society when you’re able to talk to your constituents and there’s a partnership between the electeds and the people that they are serving. Unfortunately, Republicans here in the state of Florida and across the country are failing the people that they represent.”
Fried said Republicans should “come and explain” what they’re doing in Washington to their Florida constituents, including to Democrats who are outraged by DOGE cuts.
“If Florida Republicans really believe that what they’re doing is what’s best for the country, they should come and explain themselves to the people in their districts — and if they won’t hold town halls, we will,” Fried said in a statement. “With mass firings, cuts to the VA, threats to Social Security and Medicare, attacks on immigrants, tariffs and trade wars — people deserve answers.”
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Friday announced a coordinated effort with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Association of State Democratic Committees and Democratic state parties to “hold vulnerable Republican members of Congress accountable for their refusal to face their constituents and answer for their votes to put billionaires above working people.”
The DNC’s coordinated campaign followed individual efforts by Democratic leaders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., hosting their own town hall-style events across the country. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) advised Republicans against in-person town halls last month after progressive protest groups shut down Republican town halls and congressional offices.
“Republicans in Congress know they sold out their voters by backing the Trump-Musk agenda – and now they’re terrified to be in the same room as the people who sent them to Washington,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.
“Instead of facing their constituents, they’re running scared and hiding from the people they were elected to represent. If they won’t talk to their own voters, then Democrats will. That’s why we’ll be hosting People’s Town Halls in all 50 states across the country, starting now with vulnerable GOP-held target districts. Working families deserve to have their voices heard, even if Republicans want to ignore them,” Martin added.
The NRCC has dismissed the demonstrations that shut down Republican town halls as “clown show protests” and “manufactured productions” designed to distract voters.
“The Democrat Party has sold themselves out to the far-left crazies and their mega-donors who are funding these clown show protests. This isn’t grassroots — it’s manufactured productions, orchestrated to distract voters from the Democrats’ failed and out of touch record.” Mike Marinella, NRCC national press secretary, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
