Belmont, Wisconsin, hasn’t had much time in the political spotlight since it briefly served in 1836 as the first capital of the Wisconsin Territory. But, on Saturday, the quiet village of 989 people felt like the hottest spot on America’s electoral map. Cars lined Mound Avenue, the community’s main drag, and a crowd of people lined up long before the doors of the local community building opened for US Representative Mark Pocan’s town hall meeting. So many people showed up that all the seats were filled before the session began. Several hundred people lined the walls of the room and had begun sitting on the floor up front by the time the meeting was opened by Pocan, a progressive Democrat who is one of the House’s sharpest critics of President Trump and billionaire “shadow president” Elon Musk’s shock-and-awe assault on the nation’s social safety net.

Belmont sits on the far edge of Pocan’s sprawling southern Wisconsin district, in rural Lafayette County, which last fall voted for Trump by a 3–2 margin over Democrat Kamala Harris. On Saturday, the congressman welcomed constituents of all political persuasions for a freewheeling discussion about threats posed by Trump and Musk to cherished federal agencies such as the Veteran’s Administration—and about a Republican budget plan that analysts say could take as much as $880 billion from Medicaid in order to fund massive tax cuts for the rich. But the seven-term congressman did something else. He played host to voters from across the county line, in the neighboring congressional district of Republican US Representative Derrick Van Orden.

Van Orden, a vulnerable two-term incumbent with a history of angry blow-ups involving constituents, colleagues, librarians, and young Senate pages, has, like many Republican House members, been lying low to avoid circumstances where he might face tough questions about Trump-Musk initiatives—and about his lockstep support for GOP budgets plans that are unpopular with voters in his district.

Last week, a headline in the La Crosse Tribune, one of the largest newspapers in Van Orden’s sprawling western Wisconsin district, read, “U.S. Representative Van Orden draws fire over changes to constituent meetings.” It focused on complaints that he had grown increasingly inaccessible, as concerns about the GOP agenda in Washington have mounted. A western Wisconsin television station, WXOW, reported that Van Orden’s constituents were “distraught” over the congressman’s cancellation of a scheduled town meeting in Eau Claire, the largest city in the district.

This provided Pocan a perfect opportunity to call out Van Orden’s truancy—and, by extension, that of Van Orden’s fellow House Republicans. And it worked. When the Democrat made a special point of inviting constituents of his Republican colleague to the meeting on “The Republican Rip Off: $4.5 Trillion in Tax Cuts for the Ultra-Wealthy,” state and national media outlets drew attention to the gathering, and it became the talk of the town in Belmont and surrounding communities.

Residents of Van Orden’s district came from near and far to attend the town hall, as did Pocan’s own constituents. Pocan opened the meeting by telling the crowd that packed into the community building, “This is the largest town hall I’ve held in Lafayette County, by about tenfold.” While more folks hoped to press in, the representative announced, “We’re at capacity. I’ve got to follow the law. I’m not Trump or Musk.” Undaunted, people who couldn’t get inside listened through the open windows of the hall.

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Pocan asked how many people in the room were Van Orden’s constituents, and dozens of hands shot up. Among them was Myron Tranel, a retired farmer from the nearby Town of Platteville, who said of Van Orden, “He just won’t show up to hear from the people he’s supposed to represent.” Karen Essex, another resident of rural Grant County, which is at the southern end of the Republican’s district, said, “He doesn’t want to talk to people. He doesn’t want to listen. He doesn’t want to answer questions.” Essex complained that Van Orden’s approach mirrors that of a growing number of House Republicans who stand accused of avoiding constituents. “I’m concerned that Republicans just don’t want to hear that voters want them to keep Trump in check,” said Essex. “We’re supposed to have three branches of government. But two of them [the legislative and the judicial] aren’t working.”

Pocan recounted widespread criticism of Van Orden, and read a message from the Republican—who was invited to attend the Belmont meeting—in which Van Orden claimed he had a scheduling conflict. Then the Democrat explained how constituents could send a message to the Republican’s office and said, “Derrick may not talk to you. But he sees the call numbers.”

For his part, Pocan said his office had seen a record number of calls in recent weeks, many of them expressing concern about threats to the Medicaid program. That was a major topic at the town meeting in Lafayette County, as were concerns about threats to programs that serve veterans and the prospect that cuts to international food initiatives associated with USAID would harm working farmers in the region.

Pocan and his staff jotted down details of all the questions and concerns, and then the congressman stuck around after the meeting to speak individually with voters from both districts.

For his part, Van Orden issued a statement last week suggesting that he might be feeling the heat. While he still accused Democrats like Pocan of “fearmongering,” the Republican said he was now urging the administration to watch out for farmers and veterans. But Van Orden still towed the administration line, saying he was “confident” that Musk and his team would maintain benefits.

The crowd in Belmont lacked that confidence, and they made their frustration abundantly clear. “Van Orden does not represent me. Will you?” asked one of the questioners. “Got it!” said Pocan, indicating that he would take their concerns back to Washington. But the Democrat also urged residents of Van Orden’s district to keep calling the congressman, and demanding town hall meetings. Noting that a Republican proposal to implement a $4.5 trillion tax cut that will benefit the rich while gutting vital federal programs could be stopped if just a handful of Republicans were to refuse to go along with the party leadership, Pocan urged the crowd to keep the pressure on, to keep calling and to recognize that, even if Republicans avoid them, “town halls matter!”