Rep. Kevin Kiley of Rocklin just demonstrated the wrong way to hold a town hall meeting | Opinion
California Congressman Kevin Kiley held his much-anticipated tele-conference Town Hall Monday evening for residents in his district. But just as those residents have come to expect from their congressman, it was a disappointment.
Residents of California’s 3rd District have been asking for an in-person meeting with Kiley for weeks. He finally scheduled a phone-based town hall, stating that his staff had done a poll and found that residents preferred that method, though Kiley’s staff declined to provide data on their internal poll.
Nevertheless, the tele-town hall went ahead — and it sounds like it was a disaster.
The evening got off to a poor start when many would-be listeners were disconnected; other people reported on social media that they were locked out of the call and told by an automated voice: “Due to overwhelming demand, we are unable to connect you to your conference at this time. Goodbye.” Some people were called back, and if they answered the phone call, they were able to get in. Others who had reserved a space online said they were not given priority nor received a callback.
Kiley’s Communications Director Michael Rauber wrote in an email that more than 25,000 people attempted to participate, but did not provide numbers on how many people were actually on the call, or how many were blocked from participating.
“Regrettably a small number of people using one method for joining the event were unable to connect because of a technical issue. That issue will be resolved for our next town hall,” Rauber wrote. There is currently no word on when that meeting will be held.
If I had to write a textbook example of how to anger constituents who were already angry, I’m not sure I could have written a better scenario. Kiley seems determined to undermine any remaining respect the voters might have for him by treating them thusly.
“That (attendance) certainly is an indication of a lot of concern here in the district,” said Placer County Democratic Party second vice chair, Barbara Smith.
Smith says they will continue to invite Kiley to in-person events, and hopes he will go on a listening tour of his district “so that he can truly live up to his statement that listening to us and representing us as his primary duty,” she said.
“He’s not attending (town halls) because he feels that they’re obviously a partisan gathering,” Smith said. “The perfect antidote to that is for him to hold his own town hall, and then he doesn’t have to worry about who’s sponsoring an event like that.”
Frances Pimentel, who I profiled recently about her 3-year-old special-needs daughter, Violet, said she tried to get into the call and was declined. Her husband, Jon, was able to get in and was even picked to ask a question of Kiley, but the congressman ended the town hall before that could happen.
The Pimentel’s question had to do with Kiley’s recent vote with other Republicans to make cuts at the National Institutes of Health and the congressionally-directed Medical Research Fund, which support rare disease research that would benefit their daughter.
Frances said Kiley didn’t address any of those topics at the town hall, and that he mainly focused on issues about wildfire mitigation, illegal immigration and the GOP’s plan for tax cuts.
“Without adequate funding, children like Violet will not have access to the treatments they desperately need, and their lives will be cut short,” Jon’s question for Kiley read. “I urge you to take steps to reverse this funding cut and improve medical research funding, especially for rare diseases… As a father, I’m begging you to consider the future of children like Violet, who are counting on us to fight for their chance at life.”
The Pimentels were instructed to leave a voicemail for the congressman after the town hall ended after just 90 minutes, a full half-hour longer than Kiley’s camp had originally scheduled.
“It just felt so inadequate,” Frances said of the event. “It didn’t really feel like there’s a plan going forward to take care of his constituents.”
Republican lawmakers like Kiley have been instructed not to meet with their constituents face-to-face, according to reporting by the New York Times. The chairman of House Republicans’ campaign arm, Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, told his party members to stop holding in-person town halls because meeting with angry constituents could damage their prospects in the 2026 midterm elections.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson also endorsed Hudson’s edict, blaming the problem on “Democratic activists” who are “professional protesters.”
Smith, of the Placer County Democratic Party, takes issue with that label.
“I am a member of the Placer County Democratic Central Committee... But you know, I’m also a concerned citizen of the district. I’m a wife, I’m a mom, I’m a grandma, I’m a retired teacher, I’m the wife of a retired veteran and retired law enforcement,” she said. “I mean, I wear a lot of different hats, and my concern with being identified as a Democrat, is that people don’t, as soon as they hear that, they stop listening to what you’re trying to say.”
All Kiley’s constituents can do now is to continue to put pressure on their congressman to show up and take some accountability for his votes and his words. There is great folly in avoiding the people who put you in office; maybe Kevin Kiley will have to learn that lesson the hard way in November 2026.
This story was originally published March 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
