In Egg Harbor City, New Jersey, Senator Andy Kim addressed a packed town hall on Thursday, urging attendees to become politically active and counter President Donald Trump’s policies.
Senator Kim, a freshman Democrat, kicked off a three-day tour across Republican-held congressional districts. He made a stop in a town situated within the southern New Jersey district, close to the sites of Trump’s erstwhile casino ventures in Atlantic City.
“Please, I just — I am here to just say please stay engaged, stay with me, stay with others and help me try to build the kind of movement that we need to be able to mobilize,” Kim urged near the conclusion of the approximately hour-and-forty-minute question-and-answer session at a Teamsters union hall.
These gatherings arrive as Democrats, grappling with limited power, search for strategies to counter the president’s rapid policy implementations. Meanwhile, Republican leadership has advised their members to avoid town halls following a wave of protests, though certain GOP representatives continue to hold constituent meetings.
Many attendees voiced concerns about potential reductions in government funding and proposed cuts to Medicaid, in particular. A poignant moment occurred when Susan Coll-Guedes from Galloway shared her fears regarding her 24-year-old son with Down syndrome potentially losing Medicaid coverage for nursing care. Upon her remarks, Kim approached and consoled her with a hug.
“We are not bad people. This is not waste. It’s not fraud. It’s real,” Coll-Guedes asserted.
Other speakers challenged Democrats to take a stronger stance against both the president and figures like Elon Musk. Heather Ogden from Camden County commented, “I understand the ins and outs and the right way to do things. They have tossed all of the rules out of the window.”
Kim referenced legal actions against the Trump administration as a strategy but criticized the executive branch’s questionable use of authority.
“So much of what we believe in this country to be checks and balances honestly gets brought down and exposed as just norms and behavior. And, and we see what happens when some people are just unwilling or uninterested in behaving in a way that is befitting of our country,” Kim explained. “That’s what’s so scary.”
However, not everyone present was critical of the administration. One attendee, sporting a “Make America Great Again” hat, questioned Kim about his refusal to applaud during President Trump’s recent speech to Congress, in which Trump honored certain individuals in the gallery. Kim clarified that he applauded for a boy with cancer but criticized the president for fostering a “disrespectful” atmosphere.
Senator Kim assumed office early after being elected last year, stepping into the role following Bob Menendez’s resignation due to federal corruption charges. Kim initially secured election to the House in 2018 from a district favoring the GOP, which went for Trump in both past elections.
The town hall was estimated to accommodate 150 participants, according to Kim’s office. Meanwhile, approximately two dozen individuals gathered outside, watching the proceedings on their devices. Some had been denied entry due to limited space within the venue.