Hageman moves town halls online, citing Laramie’s outrage
The leader of the local Democratic Party says the shift to virtual allows Hageman to “control the environment even more and not answer constituents’ questions honestly.”
Following a raucous town hall in Laramie last week, Wyoming Representative Harriet Hageman announced she will host upcoming town halls online, rather than in-person as originally planned.
As first reported by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, the shift to virtual will affect town halls once planned for Cheyenne Friday and Torrington Saturday.
In a press release published Tuesday, the representative’s office cites “recent incidents at public events, credible threats to Hageman, and the related national outbursts of politically motivated violence and attempts at intimidation” as reasons for moving online.
“As the saying goes, ‘This is why we can’t have nice things,’” Hageman says, according to the release. “I am proud of my record of holding dozens and dozens of town halls — 75 of them in just three years, at least three times in each of Wyoming’s 23 counties. And the only times we have had any problems with safety have been at two of the six held in the last week.”
The two allegedly problematic town halls highlighted in the announcement are Laramie’s, which took place last Wednesday, and Wheatland’s, which was held the following day.
In Wheatland, the release states, “an attendee followed Hageman leaving the venue and initiated a physical confrontation with staff, into which local police were forced to intervene.”
In Laramie the night before, Hageman had responded to an angry crowd with occasional flippancy.
She rejected the premise of a question about drought protections for farmers, repeatedly called the audience “hysterical,” and dismissed a straightforward question about transgender rights by claiming: “I don’t even know what that means.”
Laramie’s unique history and culture have ensured that comments of this sort — downplaying the significance of LGBTQ+ rights or acceptance — are routinely answered with outrage.
Hageman blamed Democrats for ginning up trouble at the Laramie town hall.
“It’s no secret that I am willing to engage with citizens on any topic, in any place,” she says in the release. “But I draw the line when organized protestors intentionally create confrontation and chaos, escalating tensions to a point where violence seems inevitable.”
Albany County Democrats Chair Klaus Halbsgut takes issue with that characterization.
“I am not surprised that Representative Hageman is going to a virtual town hall format, where she can control the environment even more and not answer constituents’ questions honestly,” Halbsgut said in a statement to the Laramie Reporter. “She doesn’t realize that it’s not only Democrats, it’s Republicans and independents that are upset with what the current administration and what she is doing in DC. [National Republican leadership] told all their members to avoid having town halls entirely because of how poorly the administration is doing and the outrage.”
Alongside other local Dems, Halbsgut helped organize protesters ahead of the event. They gathered at the courthouse a couple hours before the town hall and marched to the venue.
In the lead-up to the town hall, Halbsgut urged attendees to be respectful, so as to get in as many questions as possible in the allotted time. Others who took to the megaphone during speeches in front of the courthouse reiterated this message.
But the town hall itself was larger and more boisterous than anyone, including the organizers and even Laramie Police Chief Brian Browne, anticipated. The Laramie Boomerang estimates there were at least 500 attendees.
Hageman touted her support for the Trump Administration and the sweeping cuts both Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have been attempting or implementing. Those cuts are already impacting Wyoming, where federal workers, such as National Park Service employees, have lost their jobs, and where as much as $100 million in grants earmarked for the state could be in jeopardy.
The crowd began the night angry. It got angrier as Hageman balanced calls for respect with dismissive answers about federal cuts and transgender rights.
But Halbsgut said the audience’s anger did not equate to violence.
“It’s another lie to say the Democrats have threatened violence just like it’s another lie to say all the angry people are paid protesters by George Soros,” he said.
An opinion column published by Cowboy State Daily claimed the outrage in Laramie was “astroturfed” — or in other words, ingenuine and possibly paid for.
That’s one more ridiculous notion, Halbsgut said.
“Nobody has sent me or any Democrat I know an email where I can sign up to get paid for my protest and opinions,” he said. “I hope voters remember this next year and that they register to vote and go out and make a difference. We deserve better than what we’re getting.”
I appreciate your straight-forward reporting here. Thank you.
She didn’t do so well in Wheatland either…booed.