Maggie Goodlander, representative for New Hampshire’s second congressional district, fielded questions from the public during an overflowing town hall event at the Keene Public Library (KPL) on Friday, Feb. 28.
The event was scheduled to be held in the Lantern Room of the student center on the KSC campus earlier in the week. However, the event was moved to Heberton Hall of KPL, a larger space, as there were over 250 public reservations for attendance, according to Annie Lentz, communications director and senior advisor for Goodlander.
Goodlander said she has spent “a lot of time traveling in-district” talking with constituents on rising costs in childcare, housing and healthcare. Part of this outreach includes the town hall with voters to address changes in Washington D.C. and her approach to Elon Musk and the Trump administration.
Goodlander was responsive to attendees’ concerns about Musk’s behavior saying, “unelected billionaires should not be touching [Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security] what you have worked your whole life for.”
“Governing well means creating leverage … We need to create leverage where we can,” added Goodlander.
However, fear, uncertainty and anger were common sentiments among the overflowing crowd in attendance, especially regarding the actions being taken by Musk.
One attendee spoke about her fear of the proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. “I feel helpless because of the cuts,” she said to Goodlander. She emphasized the importance of the medicaid funds that support the care of her husband who has multiple sclerosis.
Goodlander responded to the recent suggestions of others in the Democratic Party, such as political analyst James Carville, who said Democrats need to “roll over and play dead.” She said that doing nothing was not something she intended on doing.
Marie Duggan, professor of economics at Keene State College, expressed she was pleased with Goodlander’s desire to fight, saying, “I’m glad you have a fighting spirit because if the Democratic Party wants to do nothing then we need a new party.”
Two attendees rebuked Goodlander regarding her more reserved approach, arguing for more pressure from her and the Democratic Party on congressional Republicans. One of them, a professor at Brown University, asked Goodlander if she and other Democrats would “have the chutzpah” to stand up to Republicans. KSC Political Science Department Chair Mike Welsh was surprised by this common sentiment amongst the crowd.
Welsh added that he noticed two themes in the public questions; one was frustration and angst, the other was wondering what can be done.
“What can we do, Democrats voting Democrats in a blue district in a congress that has a minority of Democrats. I thought that was an eye-opener that people in the district, or people in the meeting [town hall] at least, want to know what they can do. I wasn’t expecting that theme,” said Welsh.
He was also interested in the increased use of town halls across the country, such as Goodlander’s.
“I like that town halls are organically arising as this mode of public information. Town halls have always existed but they’ve been something that just happens,” added Welsh.
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