Former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg has joined the growing list of people who have held town hall meetings in Rep Drunken Van Orden’s district, something which DVO has yet to do himself. Buttigieg touched on several different issues, including the out-of-control behavior of the ICEtapo, Citizens United, and affordability. But the biggest issue, by far, was health care costs:
And then, when you come home from work and go to your home, it ought to be safe and it ought to be affordable. And you ought to have that hope of owning a home. And if you do, when you sit down to do the bills, you shouldn’t feel like you’ve got to choose between your health insurance premium and your mortgage. And when you do those bills, you should still be able to picture how you’re going to have a vacation. That’s not too much to ask in the United States of America.
It was a direct shot at DVO, who voted to kill ACA subsidies but then flip-flopped when he saw how pissed his constituents were at that.
Also taking the stage was Rebecca Cooke, the presumptive Democratic nominee to take on DVO. She went hard after Trump’s tariff debacles:
Rebecca Cooke, who narrowly lost to Van Orden in 2024 and is seeking a rematch in 2026, took the stage to rally voters, drawing on her experience of growing up on a farm and talking about the impact Trump administration tariffs have had on the 3rd Congressional District.
“Farmers don’t want bailouts, we want common sense policies and stable markets, to sell our products across the country, to feed the world,” she said. “We don’t want our government undercutting producers, buying beef from Argentina.”
They spoke to a standing room only crowd of over 1,000 people. The event was also streamed on Buttigieg’s site and was watched by another 2,000 people, per his staff.
H/T Acyn for the video
