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Last month the National Republican Congressional Committee directed Republicans to hide from their constituents and not do any town halls. This is after several town halls went poorly for the Republicans, seeing them getting screamed at by veterans and entire audiences. Trump, ever the conspiracy theorist even called out the people that dared to speak out against their elected leaders, the old favorite, “paid troublemakers.”

Since then, voters and citizen advocacy groups have been looking for ways to express their displeasure in the way that Republicans (and Democrats for that matter) have been cowing to Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE’s massive cuts to services. Protests outside of elected officials offices have been ongoing, but even congresspeople who won by a very small margin, like Virginia Beach’s Rep. Jen Kiggans have been AWOL. Kiggans refuses to meet with anyone or hold a town hall. She did attend a private Republican event in Virginia Beach, which the public was not allowed to attend.

So, in the response to Rep. Kiggan’s absence a coalition of organizations decided to hold their own with over 400 of her constituents showing up to speak. Affordable Virginia, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, SEIU, and Freedom Virginia worked together to hold a town hall in her stead. She was invited but needless to say, she didn’t show up for it. Kiggans did send her very silently filming political director to the speech, Jordan Familant. He denied that he was with Kiggans when I asked him in the parking lot after the town hall, but as one can see from his linkedin profile, he’s been with the Congresswoman for a while.

“Where is Rep Kiggans?” Is the question everyones asking.

Rep. Kiggans won her seat in Congress in 2024 by 3.8% of the vote, since then she’s been quiet or actively supportive of President Trump’s purges of government employees. The one issue she has gently pushed back on is the gutting of the Veterans Administration hospitals. Not too strongly though as she hasn’t been speaking out against the people doing it.

Virginia Beach, the largest city in her district is about 14% veteran. That’s double the national average. The Hampton Roads area has several major military bases as well, including Langley Air Force Base, Naval Station Norfolk and of course is the US headquarters of NATO.

Kiggans was invited to the town hall held in March, but she was a no-show. Over 400 of her constituents did show, and they were not pleased with her acceptance of the Trump/DOGE purges.

Many of the speakers at the town hall last month did not see that quiet ask as doing enough. They were angry that Rep Kiggans was saying one thing and doing something completely else. Navy vet, Burk Stringfellow told the empty stage where his representative could have been, “I’ve never known a politician to vote so contrary to To the interests of her people and what she's saying. She's a total hypocrite.”

Stringfellow who also works as a teacher, wasn’t the only speaker with military experience there were many more. Kiggans, a veteran herself, touted to get people to vote for her.

Bob, also Navy veteran, holding a sign that referenced the fact that Trump once called veterans “suckers and losers” told the how his son, an Iraq War veteran had already been effected by cuts to veterans services. His son who is on 100% disability, “Three weeks ago, he had to be taken to the VA hospital in Cleveland because he didn't get his drugs in time from the VA because of understaffing - the pharmacy was down and the VA at that facility was down 50 people.”

Educators also were out in force at the town hall. Heather Sipe the President of the Virginia Beach Education Association and a veteran teacher with 23 years of educating, was looking at what the effects of DOGE and Trump’s destruction of the Department of Education would mean. Sipe implored, “The DOE (Department of Education) was created for a reason, states were not adequately providing services and resources students and schools need to provide a quality education for all students.” The state of Virginia which before Brown V Board of Education was extremely segregated and underfunded Black schools. Even after the courts decision the elected officials of the commonwealth fought it with “Massive Resistance.”

Sipes worried that without the DOE mandating the basics of funding, “Tax dollars will be taken away from public schools and and given to select individuals for private schools. These private schools get to choose who they accept and reject.” That was exactly what happened in the years after Brown V Board of Education, “Segregation Academies” popped up across Virginia.

The second half of this piece will be sent out Thursday morning. I tried to make it one piece but with all the voices I wanted to include, there was no good way to do it in the substack format. Until then, please subscribe! The newsletter will always be free, as long as I can sustain it. Please considering a monthly subscription or a one time donation at Paypal, Venmo or CashApp

Until then you watch the full Town Hall here: