Speaker Mike Johnson flew to Alaska to campaign for Nick Begich. The flyer said don't share the address, bring photo ID, and no media. It was called a grassroots rally. Dozens of Alaskans stood outside with signs.
A constituent asked about $20,000 that a convicted felon's campaign fund gave Rogers's wife. Rogers offered to step outside. At the same meeting he called the idea that he needs town halls 'laughable.' He hasn't held one since.
He promised on Facebook and X to post the call-in information before the event. He didn't. Then his office put out a press release celebrating that 12,000 people joined. WOSU reporters have tried to interview him 17 times, knocked on his door, and left a note at his office.
In April 2025 Hern joined a congressional tour of El Salvador's CECOT prison. Asked about it, his office said only that it could not confirm his location. Days later he went on Newsmax and said of the men held there: 'These folks will never see the light of day.'
At a June 2026 courthouse event, his chief of staff told reporters the congressman would only take questions about one grant — then Reschenthaler went behind closed doors. It fits a seven-year pattern: no in-person town halls, about 40 refused TV interview requests, and a tweet about defending the free press.
Constituents left him an empty chair in Corning in 2025. In February 2026 the community station in Jamestown published a piece saying his office repeatedly failed to notify them of press events in their own county. The man who stood up at that empty-seat town hall is now his opponent.
In 2025 he said 'there's been no communication' and called the people asking 'left-wing liberals' who are 'mad because Trump won.' On July 27, 2026 his opponent invited him to four public forums. A week later, the opponent's campaign said, there had been no reply.
A billboard, an empty-chair town hall organizers say drew 500 people, and a website called WhereIsWilliamTimmons.com. He dismissed the town halls as 'staged political pep rallies' and never showed up — and now he says he can't wait to leave.
Cleveland.com says both of his opponents had already released platforms while Ramaswamy relied on attack ads — until it refused to stop asking. He has never held elected office.