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Raucous Crowd Quizzes Ross In Town Hall Meeting

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Catherine Welch
/
The Florida Channel
Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL) addresses a rowdy crowd at his town hall in Clermont.

An angry crowd met Republican Congressman Dennis Ross at a town hall in Clermont Tuesday night. Rowdy town halls have become a familiar sight across the country since President Donald Trump took office.

A crowd of more than 200 heckled and booed Ross as he fielded questions about transparency and the Trump administration, immigration, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The topic that got the crowd really cranked up was the Affordable Care Act. Ross said he wants to keep parts of it, like coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowing those 26 and younger to stay on their parents’ plan.

When asked how he thought the nearly hour-long exchange went, Ross said he thought it went well. “Because, did you see the turnout? There’s an engaged populous out there and I admire that,” Ross said. “That’s what this process is about.”

Ross then left the town hall through a back door.

Members of Congress from both parties have been holding town halls filled with angry crowds. A video online shows Republican Daniel Webster being confronted at an event Tuesday.

Catherine Welch is news director at Rhode Island Public Radio. Before her move to Rhode Island in 2010, Catherine was news director at WHQR in Wilmington, NC. She was also news director at KBIA in Columbia, MO where she was a faculty member at the University Of Missouri School Of Journalism. Catherine has won several regional Edward R. Murrow awards and awards from the Public Radio News Directors Inc., New England AP, North Carolina Press Association, Missouri Press Association, and Missouri Broadcasters Association.