Rep. Kevin Kiley extends time at telephone town hall following flood of calls, constituent protests
Rep. Kevin Kiley set out to reach his far-flung constituents Monday night with a telephone town hall. Instead, many heard a recorded voice telling them the line was full — before hanging up on them.
“Sorry, due to overwhelming demand, we are unable to connect you to your conference at this time,” said the message. “Goodbye.”
According to Kiley’s staff, more than 20,000 people had joined just 10 minutes into the town hall, leaving an untold amount of frustrated constituents without a connection. An hour after the town hall began, his office shared an update to listen in via a website.
“Just tried to log in to Kevin’s Tele Town Hall and it was full at 6:26, 4 minutes before start! What a Town Hall. Kevin is not only NOT IN TOWN, he didn’t even provide enough bandwidth to accommodate his constituents!!” one commenter wrote on Facebook.
“Can’t get in on the phone. Too many people calling. I guess Kevin is just super popular right now,” another Facebook user wrote.
California’s 3rd Congressional District is sprawling — it encompasses Placer County suburbs such as Rocklin and Roseville as well as South Lake Tahoe. But Kiley’s district, which covers over 22,000 square miles, stretches north to Sierra and Plumas counties and south the eastern reaches of the state past Death Valley National Park in Inyo County. Its area is second only to the 1st District, which covers 27,000 square miles.
Kiley’s town hall was catered to constituents after weeks of protests in his district. He has said a tele-town hall would be a more accessible choice given the size of his district, but voters like Barbara Smith of Auburn said that excuse “doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Especially with so many voters who couldn’t dial in, let alone meet with him in person.
“When you can control the narrative and what kinds of questions are being asked, or who is asking them, you can avoid difficult situations,” Smith said Monday afternoon before the town hall. “You can avoid answering questions you don’t want to, and plan out your responses ahead of time. We have no way of knowing if he has scripted answers or not because we can’t see him.”
Constituents have protested in district
There have been two protests against Kiley this month — one outside the Westfield Galleria in Roseville and another at his district office in Rocklin. A week ago, hundreds of constituents lined up at his Nevada City office to speak with staffers and demand a town hall. All the hubbub made its way to MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” among other outlets.
Then, on Wednesday, Kiley sent an email update to constituents saying that he would host the Monday teleconference. It wasn’t known where Kiley was calling in from.
His decision to host the event via phone falls in line with recent guidance from the National Republican Congressional Committee after chair Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told lawmakers not to hold in-person town halls.
“Obviously, that is not what we asked for,” said Roseville Democratic delegate Daniel Medina, who attended the protests. “We were pretty clear that we wanted an in-person town hall. That’s what his constituents wanted. A tele-town hall is archaic, it’s not a way that he’ll actually face his constituents.”
A Kiley spokesperson stressed to The Sacramento Bee that his office was “open, accessible, and maintains a higher level of engagement than nearly any other member of Congress, something Congressman Kiley takes pride in.”
“The Congressman has held town halls throughout his tenure in Congress, which constituents greatly appreciate. To date, over 53,000 constituents have participated in these events, making their voices heard. Since joining Congress, the Representative’s office has closed over 3,700 cases for local families, helping them secure federal benefits and returning over $9 million to those constituents.”
But Smith said that Kiley could make himself available during a congressional recess if wanted to — especially considering that Kiley dropped by a Capital Lincoln Club event during last weekend’s CAGOP convention.
“He had a huge event on Friday,” Smith said. “So, if you have the money, you can access him.”
Kiley answers all comers, extends town hall
During the town hall, which was scheduled to last one hour before Kiley extended it by 30 minutes, callers were able to ask questions about everything from President Donald Trump’s support for Russia and his icy meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as support for federal workers and wildfire mitigation projects.
Kiley took questions as they came in from callers who joined the live telephone queue, and despite many of the questions being critical of his party, he responded to each of them and thanked constituents for their public and military service.
The most urgent and common questions were focused on federal cuts instigated by Trump mega-donor and DOGE leader Elon Musk — especially where Kiley’s district is concerned.
One of Musk’s sweeping cuts was to the U.S. Forest Service staff which included a subsequent hiring freeze. Kiley represents several national parks and forests including Plumas, Tahoe and Eldorado national forests, and Death Valley National Park.
Kiley told constituents that he sent a letter to the White House about the national parks cuts last week.
“We really need to get those parks staffed up,” Kiley said on the call. “And we’re asking for the (Trump) administration to provide individual parks direct hire authority so they can get the resources they need going into these peak seasons.”
Kiley also defended the recently-passed budget bill that prevented a government shutdown.
As the town hall wrapped up at 8 p.m., Kiley apologized to the many callers who were unable to join. He encouraged those who were left off the call to reach out to his staff — though he acknowledged it’s a “small staff” working late nights to try to answer constituent concerns.
He also promised more town halls “in the very near future.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2025 at 7:31 PM.
