Town hall meeting

Town hall meetings organized by national politicians are often held in a variety of locations distributed across a voting district so that elected representatives can receive feedback from a larger proportion of constituents.

In March 1795 Wilmington, Charleston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New-York, and other towns had public meetings related to the Jay Treaty which was leaked to the early press by sitting senators.

[8] The 1858 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in some respects resembled a modern town hall meeting, although the candidates did not take questions from the audience.

[11] The producer of Nixon's "Man in the Arena"[12] live town-hall programs was Roger Ailes,[13] who would later become CEO of Fox News when that channel launched.

Representative Brian Baird canceled his live town hall meetings after receiving death threats, choosing to hold a telephone conference call with his constituents instead.

In 2017, constituents opposed to repeal of that same health care act began attending town halls to express their disagreement with abolishing the legislation.

[26] Some constituents have held mock town halls, using a cardboard cutout or empty chair, to stand in for elected representatives who decline to meet with them.

[29] During the 1993 elections, televised town hall meetings were one of a number of initiatives mainstream media adopted to center ordinary citizens at the heart of their campaign coverage.

Attendees generally present ideas, voice their opinions, ask questions of the public figures, elected officials, or political candidates at the town hall.

In recent years, town halls held by political candidates have announced and enforced rules on crowd behavior and the scope of questions that may be asked.

[3][4] If the turnout is large, and if the objective of the particular town hall meeting is to give as many people as possible an opportunity to speak, then the attendees can be broken down into smaller discussion groups.

"[32] The Congress Foundation commissioned a report on online town hall meetings, which found they grew in size and importance starting in the mid-2000s.