Washington, DC (Sept 2, 2025) - We all saw the protests erupt at Nebraska GOP Rep Mike Flood’s town hall earlier this month, but Flood is far from alone. Populist protests and community actions targeting Republicans for backing Donald Trump’s signature tax law and other budget cuts to the social safety net happened far and wide this August recess.

Through these actions, people are keeping the unpopular new law in the news and atop newsfeeds, ensuring that their friends and neighbors learn how their elected leaders have put the rich and corporations over families and local communities:

ALASKA

Fair Share America joined with local organizers and labor partners to host a 500-person community town hall in Anchorage, Alaska last Wednesday evening. Alaskans in attendance had not been fooled by the lies: they know Trump and the GOP sold them out with the Big Beautiful Bill and they are demanding accountability:

Sullivan and Begich came home to sell the Big Beautiful Bill. Its detractors aren’t hearing the pitch. (Anchorage Daily News, September 2)

Sullivan has focused his efforts to explain the budget reconciliation bill on touting its benefits to Alaska resource development, investments in the Coast Guard and tax cuts. Numerous analyses find that the tax cuts will disproportionately benefit wealthier Americans…

[Fair Share America Executive Director Kristen] Crowell, on Wednesday, had a well-practiced response to Sullivan’s message.

“We’re watching Republican members of Congress now traveling the country trying to spin the lies, trying to spin the Big Beautiful Bill as something that is on the side of people,” said Crowell. “We’re going to continue to organize and double down to make sure that every one of our community members knows who betrayed us.”

Her words were met with a chant from a man in the audience: “Throw Dan Sullivan out!”

Crowell’s rallying cry was followed Wednesday by testimony delivered by Sarah Krug, an Anchorage resident who relies on Medicaid to care for her child who has cerebral palsy, and Abram Goodstein, an Anchorage rabbi whose children are enrolled in Denali KidCare, the Medicaid program for Alaska children. Both said they were worried that the budget reconciliation bill would weaken the public assistance on which they rely.

Both Sullivan and Begich have largely sidestepped any public debate about the projected cuts to Medicaid spending across the country…

As Trump agenda hits Alaska, opponents look to the 2026 elections (The Alaska Current, Aug 28)

Those chants of “Vote him out” weren’t directed at Trump, but rather at the members of Alaska’s Republican delegation who will be on the 2026 ballot.

Both U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich have been major cheerleaders for the Trump administration, reliably siding with the Trump agenda despite worries about the outsized impacts it’ll have on the state. Alaska has a large presence of federal employees and relies heavily on federal dollars for a slew of services, infrastructure and social safety net programs. Sullivan has seen his popularity slide along with Trump.

The event previewed the messaging heading into the 2026 elections, casting Trump Republicans as out-of-touch elites who favor billionaires over working-class people. Signs reading “No tax cuts for billionaires” and “Tariffs are taxes” were also handed out.

IOWA

“Stop Lying”: Voters Erupt at GOP Lawmaker’s Shocking Claim on Economy (The New Republic, August 28)

Constituents in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District showered Representative Ashley Hinson with boos and jeers for supporting President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill.

The Republican lawmaker was excoriated during a town hall Wednesday in Worth County, where Iowans urged Hinson to “stop lying” after she baselessly claimed that the president’s key legislation had ushered in “higher wages” and an improved cost of living.

“Higher wages?” shouted one woman incredulously. “For who? For you?”

“Cost of living is higher than it’s ever been,” another woman said.

Hinson, a former TV journalist, has been remarkably unpopular at town halls across her state as she ardently defends Trump’s agenda. She faced even more heat in May when she told a crowd in Elkader that she was “proud to vote for President Trump’s ‘one big beautiful bill’,” eliciting so much contempt from the crowd that they yelled at her until she stopped speaking.

“You are a fraud,” a constituent shouted at her at the time.

A GOP lawmaker aims to define Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill before Democrats (The Washington Post, August 29)

Rep. Ashley Hinson praised President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill at her fifth annual “BBQ Bash” here last weekend, celebrating the measure’s changes to taxes on tips and other tax cuts that she says are aimed at the middle class.

But the only part of the law that really garnered applause from the mostly friendly crowd at the Iowa Republican’s event was the hundreds of billions it plows into Trump’s signature issue, immigration enforcement…

In more than two dozen interviews, Republicans, Democrats and independents in Hinson’s deeply red 2nd District who were familiar with the bill expressed significant skepticism about it.

Maria Gourley, a 23-year-old ER nurse, had heard about the bill and was “absolutely worried” that Medicaid cuts could put extra pressure on her hospital’s emergency department.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst won't seek reelection next year, source says (ABC News, Aug 30)

She garnered attention during a town hall in late May when, in an attempt to defend cuts to Medicaid to a crowd of agitated constituents, she responded "Well, we are all going to die."

MISSOURI

Mark Alford faces questions about Trump Medicaid cuts, GOP priorities in Missouri town hall (Missouri Independent, Aug 28)

U.S. Rep. Mark Alford defended actions taken by President Donald Trump at a contentious town hall in Harrisburg on Wednesday night. More than 100 constituents packed the Lions Club event hall. The small venue — full of shouting and passionate pleas — drew in people from all over the county who voiced their questions and complaints.

ILLINOIS

Metro-east protesters confront Bost on his ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ victory tour (Belleville News-Democrat, Aug 20)

A group of protesters confronted U.S. Rep. Mike Bost on Tuesday morning during his visit to O’Fallon as part of his southern Illinois tour celebrating the passage of the “One Big Beautiful” tax and spending cut bill. The protesters said they oppose the large spending cuts to social safety net programs in the bill that help fund tax breaks they say mainly benefit wealthy Americans. They pointed to the estimated $911 billion in cuts to Medicaid and the $186 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program projected over the next decade.

PENNSYLVANIA

Scranton mayor launches House bid in Pennsylvania swing district (The Hill, Sept 2)

Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti (D) launched her bid for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District on Tuesday, teeing up a challenge against incumbent Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.). In her launch video, Cognetti repeatedly hit Bresnahan over stock trading and his vote supporting the Republican mega bill and its impact on Medicaid access.

“Congressman Rob Bresnahan lied when he promised he would ban congressional stock trading, and he lied when he said he would protect access to health care. What’s even worse is that Bresnahan is profiting off our pain, playing the stock market while voting to screw us over in Washington,” Cognetti said in a statement.

NORTH CAROLINA

Dems blast impact of Medicaid cuts on rural healthcare, spotlight 2026 Senate race (NC Newsline, Aug 27)

North Carolina Democrats held a press conference Tuesday to attack Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley, portraying him as a threat to rural healthcare. They pointed to Whatley’s support for the so-called “one big beautiful bill” which state health officials say could cut nearly $50 billion in Medicaid funding in North Carolina over the next decade.

Nearly 680,000 North Carolinians have gained coverage since the expansion of Medicaid in 2023, but the passage of “one big beautiful bill,” a sweeping tax and spending package signed into law by President Trump earlier this summer, could put that coverage and the survival of some rural hospitals at risk.

“It feels like we took three steps forward, and now we’re taking five steps back,” said White. “With Medicaid expansion, families had more opportunity to get ahead, and it’s devastating to watch that unravel.”

ARIZONA

Arizona demonstrators call attention to working-class conditions, grievances (Arizona’s Family, Sept 1)

Some Arizonans gathered for a peaceful demonstration to protest Trump administration policies and the influence of billionaires, while calling for support of the working class and federal workers on this Labor Day. Volunteer organizers said they are “fighting for public schools over private profits, health care over hedge funds and fighting back against corporate politics.” Protests are happening across the Valley, including in Tempe and Scottsdale.

Labor Day ‘Workers Over Billionaires’ protests take place around the Valley, the US (KTAR News, Sept 1)

Protesters gathered around the Valley as well as the United States on Labor Day for “Workers Over Billionaires” demonstrations. There were at least five demonstrations throughout Maricopa County including at the State Capitol, Rep. David Schweikert’s office in Scottsdale, Anthem, Tempe, Chandler and Queen Creek, according to May Day Strong. There were also protests listed in Flagstaff, Sedona, Payson, Globe, Tucson, Patagonia and Sierra Vista.

NEW YORK

“You Sold Us Out!”: Elise Stefanik Drowned Out by Booing Crowd (The New Republic, August 19)

Representative Elise Stefanik was not well received when she returned to her district in upstate New York. The crowd jeered at Stefanik both times she approached the podium, calling the staunch MAGA supporter a “traitor,” while others chanted, “Shame.”

LOUSIANA

Speaker Johnson pushed Medicaid cuts. His constituents worry about their own coverage (NPR, Aug 28)

For people in Johnson's district who are struggling and between jobs, like Collins and Jackson, losing coverage and access to clinics could harm their ability to receive medical care. For Jackson, it could also mean losing the progress his son has made in overcoming a speech impediment — affecting the ability of a father and son to communicate.

Collins said he only exchanged simple pleasantries with Johnson back when he painted his house. But if he met him again today, he'd have more to say.

"I would actually ask him: 'What's the reason you're cutting Medicaid,'" Collins said, "and hurting a lot of people in this city?"

NATIONAL

Angry constituents confront Congress on immigration, Medicaid cuts and Gaza (NBC News, August 30)

The few lawmakers who held town halls this summer faced voters furious with Republicans about Trump's agenda and with Democrats for not doing enough to fight back.

President Donald Trump and the Republicans may have full control of Washington, but protesters spared neither political party. At 25 town halls across the country that were viewed or attended by NBC News this summer, voters pressured Democrats to deploy more aggressive tactics as they battle Trump and took them to task over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Republicans faced hostile crowds over their support for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” his nationwide immigration crackdown and Trump’s deployment of federal forces to Washington, D.C., in what he has called an effort to crack down on crime.

Republicans thought they could escape the Big Beautiful Bill. It’s not working (Salon, Aug 28)

Republicans in Congress attempted to design their “big beautiful” budget bill to insulate themselves from the political consequences of slashing benefits for millions of Americans while cutting taxes for the rich. So far, their plan doesn’t seem to be working.

Already, institutions, particularly in health care, are making decisions based on the GOP megabill. Perhaps the most concrete example of this came in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which killed at least 250 people and wreaked havoc across the southeastern U.S. last September.

Politico’s E&E News reports that, because of the GOP’s budget cuts, the Unicoi County Hospital in rural east Tennessee — a predominantly Republican region — may never reopen after being severely flooded by Hurricane Helene. Specifically, the budget bill changed federal regulations governing states’ ability to levy taxes on health care providers, known as provider taxes, and the use of that money to fund Medicaid payments. Medicaid payments in turn, help keep hospitals in rural and poorer areas afloat financially.

Contacts: Kristin Sosanie (kristin@fairshareusa.org) and Ashley Woolheater, ashley@fairshareusa.org.

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Fair Share America supports the movement in the states and nationally to make wealthy individuals and the most profitable corporations pay what they owe so that all of us can thrive. Learn more: https://www.fairshareusa.org/