Voters in Gainesville and High Springs, Florida, a rural area north of the city, held empty chair town halls this past week after Cammack declined to hold a town hall after numerous requests.
At a 25 April empty chair town hall in Gainesville, Florida, several constituents, which included retired federal workers and teachers, expressed frustration with a lack of response from Cammack’s office and several cited promises from her office that a town hall would be scheduled in April 2025.
“People are afraid. They’re celebrating when their social security check shows up because they’re afraid it might not,” said Jenn Powell, co-chair of the Alachua County Labor Coalition, and one of the organizers of the town hall. “So while Kat Cammack is not listening to her constituents, we decided to have a town hall without her, and will deliver the forms of questions and video to her office.”
Why aren’t these going viral? They might be too sad to watch, seeing elderly people worry about their checks. The article says that Gainesville is a college town, so it leans heavily democratic.
Edit: I misspoke:
Hello, I live in this district. Gainesville itself as a college town is pretty solidly blue, but Ocala, High springs, and pretty much everything else around it in the district is very rural and red. We are also very close to the villages, which is where all the old people in the country go to ruin Florida for everyone else (although I think the villages is in a different district, it’s still close enough to have plenty of influence).
I knew I had heard of the villages. Apparently, they’re upset too:
https://floridatimes.com/residents-of-the-villages-participate-in-nationwide-hands-off-rally-against-trump-and-musk
College towns are weird because most college students do not vote there. The students may vote where they’re from but since young people generally don’t vote even those who are able to vote locally likely don’t.