Republicans in the toughest swing districts become hard to find for people angry about Trump

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Many days over the past two weeks, no one answered the phone at any of U.S. Rep. Scott Perry's four offices.

Perry's team did not share details about the Republican congressman's public appearances until they were over. Even supporters who live in Perry's central Pennsylvania district could not remember the last time he hosted an in-person town hall.

No one opened the locked door at his district office in Mechanicsburg last week when an Associated Press reporter rang the bell. A male voice said through the intercom, "I don't have any public appearance information that I can provide.''

The U.S. House is ending a 17-day recess, typically known as a district work period, in which members of Congress return home to focus on their constituents. But some of the most vulnerable Republicans limited their potential exposure to the potential backlash from President Donald Trump's first months in office.

They are embracing the strategy outlined by GOP leaders in Washington who argue there is no benefit to creating more viral moments such as the crowd in Asheville, North Carolina, that booed U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards and the pointed questions about tariffs and deportations that were directed at U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Perry, who won reelection last fall by about 5,000 votes, is one of the 10 most vulnerable House Republicans, as measured by their margins of victory last fall. They were especially hard to find during the recess, though it was difficult to verify many of the public schedules due to the inconsistent responses from their offices.

None of them, a collection of swing-district conservatives from across Arizona, Colorado, California, Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, hosted in-person events that were open to the public. Just one planned a telephone town hall. Others favored smaller invitation-only gatherings with local officials promoted only after they were over.

The Republicans' lack of access didn't sit well with some voters.

''They're publicly elected officials. They ought to be accessible to the public,'' Republican voter Robert Barton, a 57-year-old civil engineer, said as he waited for his lunch at Italian Delight Pizzeria across the street from Perry's office in Mechanicsburg.

Perry's team did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Republicans defend their strategy

Veteran GOP strategist Doug Heye argued that interacting with constituents in ''planned and controlled ways'' is more productive than town halls for members of Congress. "And that's smart for any politician,'' he said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans' campaign arm, is not encouraging targeted members to stay out of the public eye, a spokesperson said.

Instead, the NRCC encourages lawmakers to meet with their constituents in public, but to be wary of events that could divert attention from a House member's message and agenda, according to NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella.

''We tell everyone, go out and meet people. You have to be in front of your constituents,'' Marinella said. ''Use every avenue you can.''

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., recently suggested that some of the people attending public meetings with members ''do this as a profession, they're professional protesters.'' He urged lawmakers to consider convening so-called tele-town hall meetings, dial-in conferences where thousands can listen and lawmakers take questions.

In 2010, under pressure over the health care overhaul that became known as Obamacare, a number of House Democrats skipped public events after facing angry town halls the previous summer. Some held tele-town hall meetings instead.

Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., co-authored an opinion piece referring to some protests as ''un-American'' and denouncing an ''ugly campaign (to) disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue.''

Just under a decade later, House Republicans trying to repeal that health law were accused of ducking town halls as well. Then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he would stop holding town halls to limit access for protesters from outside his district.

Both the Democrats in 2010 and the Republicans in 2018 would go on to lose their House majorities.

Democrats step in

The Democratic National Committee, backed by organized labor and other progressive groups in some states, has launched dozens of ''People's Town Halls'' and ''Good Trouble" events in districts where Republicans will not hold public events.

Democrats are betting their strategy will give them an advantage in the 2026 election, when control of Congress will be decided for the last two years of Trump's final term. Historically, the party that holds the White House loses seats in these midterms. And as of now, Republicans would lose the House majority if they lose a net of just two seats.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley put it in stark terms during an appearance at the Iowa Faith and Freedom spring fundraiser this month.

''This midterm election cycle is going to determine whether we have a four-year presidency or a two-year presidency,'' Whatley told an audience of 700 Iowa Republican activists and social conservative leaders. Referring to the 2018 Democratic House takeover, he warned of House investigations and a stalled Trump agenda that ''knocked the administration off its feet.''

Where are the Republicans?

Mariannette Miller-Meeks is an Iowa Republican who won last fall by 799 votes, the closest U.S. House election won by a Republican in the country last year.

She spoke at the Faith and Freedom fundraiser, but she spent the Easter recess meeting with far smaller groups in more controlled environments: a wheel accessory plant, several business groups in the Des Moines and Davenport areas, a Rotary Club meeting, and a groundbreaking for an eastern Iowa medical center.

Most of her constituents would have learned of the stops by checking Miller-Meeks' social media accounts after the fact. Miller-Meeks, like her fellow most-targeted Republican House members, offered little if any public notice of her appearances.

Like the other House Republicans in the nation's most-competitive districts, she held no events open to all constituents, nor had any planned for the remainder of the break, which ended Sunday.

Aides to U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, who represents Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, confirmed that the Republican held no open events nor had plans to before the end of the break. Bacon's X account included a post from last weekend where he appeared to be attending an Easter egg hunt in south Omaha.

On the ground in a key swing district

Back in Perry's Harrisburg-area district, Democrats are optimistic that they are well-positioned to defeat the seven-term Republican, a former chairman of the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus.

He defeated Democrat Janelle Stelson, a former local television broadcaster, by 5,000 votes last fall. Stelson expects to start another campaign against Perry in July.

''The title of the job is representative. It's not actually about you, it's about what the people you talk to care about and want you to accomplish for them,'' she said. ''And I don't understand how he can possibly know what that is when he's never out among us.''

Some voters have taken notice.

Tim Shollenberger, a Mechanicsburg resident who was a registered Republican until recently, struggled to be heard during Perry's April 2 tele-town hall.

Participants were not allowed to ask questions directly, so the 69-year-old trial lawyer submitted three questions in writing: one about Elon Musk's critical comments about Social Security and two about Perry's lack of public access.

The moderator did not ask any of them.

''If you really care about the views of your constituents, get in a room and face them," Shollenberger said.

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' race was the closest U.S. House race won by a Republican in 2024, but not the closest race in the country.