A town hall hosted by Rep. Byron Donalds turned chaotic Tuesday, with audience members repeatedly interrupting the Florida Republican, leading authorities to remove two people — the latest raucous town hall dominated by protests against President Trump’s administration.
Donalds, a three-term congressman running in next year’s Florida gubernatorial race, was asked a litany of often-testy questions, several of which focused on billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Audience members booed or cheered — and, in some cases, angrily left early — throughout the almost two-hour event at Estero High School in southwest Florida. Donalds occasionally verbally sparred with the protesters.
Two people appeared to be escorted out by the local sheriff’s department after yelling pro-Palestinian sentiments while Donalds answered a question about the Israel-Hamas war. During one incident, Donalds said he would have a protester removed if she kept interrupting. “Let’s have a disagreement. But when you’re going to stand and yell and disrespect everybody in this room because you think you’re being heard, and let’s be clear, you’re not,” he said.
Donalds told reporters after the event he plans on holding more town halls, but he said the interruptions “got out of hand,” calling some of them “rude” and “disrespectful” to other attendees.
“I could kind of tell from the first question or two what kind of night it was going to be. But you know, that’s alright. It’s part of the business,” Donalds told reporters.
The interruptions began quickly. Minutes into the event, a staff member read a pre-submitted question about whether Donalds supports congressional oversight of DOGE. Donalds defended Musk’s cost-cutting efforts and said lawmakers are “letting DOGE complete its work,” leading some audience members to groan and boo — though others appeared to cheer Donalds on.
Donalds was also heckled during questions about immigration, gun control measures, DOGE’s work in the Social Security Administration, tariffs and diversity programs. He broadly defended Trump administration policies, drawing boos in many cases.
The lawmaker pushed back on protesters in some cases, asking them questions about Biden- and Obama-era programs and arguing critics were not being “intellectually honest.” At other points, he encouraged people to “relax” and stop heckling: “You can yell or you can hear,” he said during an exchange about the Social Security Administration.
“Is anybody finding this informative?” Donalds asked the crowd at one point, drawing a mixture of cheers and jeers. “60-40? That’ll work.”
Donalds is seeking to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. A staunch Trump ally, the congressman earned the president’s endorsement in February, before Donalds formally launched his gubernatorial campaign.
Monday’s event was the latest congressional town hall to get chaotic. Members of both parties have faced adversarial crowds in recent weeks, with protesters often pushing back against Mr. Trump and Musk. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was repeatedly interrupted by protests at a meeting in the Georgia Republican’s home district last Tuesday, with police arresting three demonstrators — two of whom were tased at the scene. That same evening, a town hall hosted by Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, was also derailed by angry constituents.
Some lawmakers have shied away from hosting in-person events, in some cases shifting to virtual meetings with voters instead. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, suggested last month GOP lawmakers should reconsider in-person town halls, saying members of his caucus should communicate with their constituents but “there are other avenues to do it than just going in to try to give the other side sound bites.”
Donalds said last month he plans to continue holding town halls, brushing off plans to protest the events in an interview with Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”
“Quite frankly, I don’t care what they do,” Donalds said. “I would tell any Democrat that wants to come out there and astroturf my town hall, bring it, because we’re going to talk the truth. We’re going to talk about what’s really going on. I’m not afraid of you.”
