ESTERO, Fla. — U.S. Representative Byron Donalds' townhall Monday night featured heated debates, some people being asked to leave and others storming out.
Audience members filled the auditorium at Estero High School, with pre-submitted questions being read allowed by the Southwest Florida District 19 congressman.
“Let’s have a fact-based, intellectually honest conversation and if you can do that, we can still walk away with disagreement,” Rep. Donalds said of what he wanted the night to be. “But at least I know where you stand, you know where I stand.”
Fox 4 community corespondent Stephen Pimpo spoke to people both for and against Rep. Donalds, who said the town hall did nothing to change where they stand:
Many of the questions involved Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with Rep. Donalds saying the responsible thing for the Congressional Oversight Committee (of which he is a member) to do is to let DOGE finish it’s work before stepping in.
“I’m really upset by the idea of DOGE and, (the idea of) ‘We crash it and trash it and then afterwards we’ll see whether we did good or bad,’” said Jack Phelps of Fort Myers, who submitted a question about DOGE and the IRS.
Lots of arguments erupted during questions over Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Israel and Palestine, as well as immigration and social security, resulting in boos, cheers and shouting back and forth. Rep. Donalds called some of the outbursts rude though he did give people the time and platform to speak.
“I wanted to hear more substance and less yelling,” said Estero resident Jay Spector. “And all we heard were people that came to protest, more than listen to what the Congressman had to say.”
Rep. Donalds believes some of the outrage comes from fear and concern rather than facts.
“I think that if you had some of the same programming but it was Kamala Harris (instead of Donald Trump), the people who might be upset would be cheering it.”
A group of protesters opposing Rep. Donalds was gathered outside of the high school before the town hall started.
