U.S. Rep. Jason Lewis held his first in-person town hall meetings on Saturday, fielding comments and questions about hot-button issues such as health care and gun violence.
A few attendees in Lakeville thanked the Minnesota Republican for cutting taxes. But several expressed concerns about the meeting itself: Why, when so many people couldn't get tickets, were there so many empty chairs?
About 60 people attended the meeting in Rosehenge Hall in Lakeville, the freshman representative's second of three stops. That left open about 40 seats.
In Lakeville, and for similar meetings in Wabasha and Jordan, Lewis picked smaller venues partly to encourage "good conversation," said his chief of staff, Amy Smith. She said there also were safety concerns because Lewis' office received phone calls last week that Capitol Police deemed to be a threat.
"We issued 100 tickets to this, so if somebody didn't show up, they didn't show up," Lewis said.
Lewis, who is seeking a second term, announced May 10 that he would hold three meetings across the Second Congressional District, a swing district that includes southeastern Twin Cities suburbs and rural areas to the south.
He had been among many members of Congress declining to hold in-person town halls, where lawmakers risk recorded confrontations and face safety concerns, in favor of "telephone town halls." Lewis and his staffers pointed out that he's held 19 such telephone meetings and 271 meetings with groups since he was elected in 2016.
But political opponents say that Lewis and other members of Congress are ducking the people they represent. Saturday's events did little to quell such criticism, as demonstrators outside the hall in Lakeville accused Lewis of handpicking supporters for the limited tickets.