TULSA, Okla. — 2 News reached out to the five Oklahoma members of Congress on whether they plan to avoid town halls.
Recently, amid growing protests nationwide, House Speaker Mike Johnson advised members of Congress to cancel in-person town hall events. Critics believe it is an effort to silence those who disagree with them.
Representatives Frank Lucas, Tom Cole and Kevin Hern did not respond to our several attempts to reach them.
In an email, Representative Bice’s spokesperson said that “Rep. Bice has been doing regular monthly town halls since being elected in 2020 because of the ability to reach every part of her congressional district. We plan to continue this outreach moving forward.”
Representative Josh Brecheen responded with a statement:
“We are committed to doing town halls while also ensuring civility and protests from people outside Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District don’t steal opportunities for constituents in the district to be heard. Democrats are trying to leverage groups to create a narrative that isn’t reflective of the wide support President Trump’s decisions enjoy, and so we will also use wisdom regarding timing and structure of events to not play into their hand.”
Brecheen hosted 106 in-person town halls during his first term.
“It is important members of Congress host live, in-person town halls so we can be held accountable to our constituents,” he said in September of 2024.
On March 6, dozens of people protested outside an event hosting Superintendent Ryan Walters in Glenpool.
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Police Chief Jeremy Plane credits Lieutenant Robert Glasby for acting as a liaison on site and meeting with the protest group and the event group prior to the event.
He said the protesters adhered to everything; they didn’t block the doors or traffic and used the recommended barricade area.
Plane says they started getting complaints from an apartment complex about bullhorn noise at 9:30 p.m. The noise ordinance does not go into effect until 10:00 p.m.
“Even though it was early she [protest coordinator] went to those people and said, ‘hey, turn and face the building so we are not yelling toward that apartment complex,’” said Plane. “I don’t think any of that would have been possible without Lieutenant Glasby contacting both sides and building a small relationship and meeting with them personally.”
Plane said no one in the department could remember a time Glenpool had a protest – so they are considering this one their first.
According to ACLED, a group that tracks and analyzes protests, only about 5% of protests in America turned violent, using a timeframe in 2020.
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