WASHINGTON, D.C. — Representative Bryan Steil hosted a town hall in his district this week that turned hostile when he “struggled to get through answers” about his support for Trump’s draconian immigration policies and votes to gut health care for his constituents. While his constituents demand real answers and call on him to “quit rubber-stamping a cruel and chaotic agenda,” Steil has been busy spending his time in Washington, launching baseless, partisan attacks against Democratic platforms like ActBlue and inviting conspiracy theorists to testify at Congressional hearings, wasting constituents’ time and taxpayer dollars.
Earlier this week, the Congressional Integrity Project sent a letter to Representative Steil, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan demanding an investigation into Republican fundraising platform WinRed for systematic violations of campaign finance laws during the 2024 election, including accepting illegal foreign donations and contributions from anonymous donors using fraudulent information.
Read more below:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: GOP Rep. Bryan Steil holds an in-person town hall event and is greeted with boos over Trump bill
U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil was met with consistent boos during a town hall Thursday night, as scores of attendees jeered the Janesville Republican over his support for President Donald Trump’s policies.
Steil struggled to get through answers from the crowd of more than 250 people gathered in Elkhorn Area High School’s auditorium. Many in the crowd interjected with yells of disagreement over everything from border security to tariffs to Trump’s recently signed One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“It’s completely fine that we disagree,” Steil said at one point, though he implored the crowd to “help us engage in a more productive dialogue.”
“That’s why it’s important we’re having this conversation,” he added.
U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., tries to quiet the audience during an in-person town hall meeting with constituents at Elkhorn Area High School in Elkhorn, Wisconsin on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
Steil’s in-person town hall was the first for a Wisconsin Republican since House GOP leadership in March advised members to avoid the in-person events. Republican leaders encouraged their conference to hold telephone town halls to avoid public protests from Democrats unhappy with the Trump administration’s actions.
It was Steil’s first in-person session since January, though he’s held a telephone town hall each month so far in 2025.
Democrats have castigated Republicans for avoiding their constituents ever since the directive. And as Republicans like Steil seek to pitch Trump’s new law as a positive for locking in previously enacted tax cuts, Democrats across the country are trying to make the legislation a focal point heading into the 2026 midterms, arguing the measure benefits the wealthiest while stripping millions of health insurance.
In Elkhorn, some of the loudest boos came as Steil fielded questions about the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Steil backed Trump’s efforts and insisted he was simply supportive of “enforcing our immigration laws.”
He touted Trump’s moves to reinstate the Stay in Mexico policy, restart construction of the border wall and end catch-and-release policies.
Multiple attendees referred to the new Florida immigrant detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz as a concentration camp. Steil said he disagreed with the characterization. “The difference between a prison or a detention center and a concentration camp is due process,” one woman told him.
Steil during the session defended the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education, saying “education is best resolved at the local level,” and he stood by Trump’s use of tariffs, suggesting tariffs have helped the U.S. be treated more fairly.
He mentioned the national debt as a challenge facing the country. “Thanks to you,” one attendee yelled. Trump’s newly signed law would expand the deficit over the next decade, according to nonpartisan estimates.
“Southeast Wisconsin has not been represented by you,” one man told Steil during the town hall. “President Trump seems to run southeast Wisconsin.”
When asked what he would do about the people starving in Gaza, Steil told the crowd the “easy answer to address this crisis is for Hamas to surrender and release the hostages.”
At one point, Steil argued he doesn’t “always line up” with his party leadership.
Before the town hall started, a group of about 50 demonstrators gathered outside the high school to protest Steil’s vote for Trump’s bill, noting it slashed Medicaid and food assistance programs. Wisconsin health officials previously estimated the legislation could cause tens of thousands of Wisconsinites to lose Medicaid coverage.
“Quit rubber-stamping a cruel and chaotic agenda,” said Rebecca McCracken, a 68-year-old resident of Salem, when asked about her message to Steil.
Last week, a group of what appeared to be elderly protesters placed a makeshift coffin in front of Steil’s residence in Janesville bearing the words, “Here lie the hopes of the most vulnerable killed by the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ signed into law by President Donald J. Trump and endorsed by Lyin’ Bryan Steil.”
Steil reported the incident to U.S. Capitol Police, according to a spokesman.
Democratic officials have also gone after the GOP colleagues. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat, earlier this week hosted an in-person town hall in Racine — the second-largest city in Steil’s 1st Congressional District — to highlight those cuts.
At the same time Steil spoke, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a Madison Democrat, held an in-person town hall in Prairie du Chien, where Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden lives.
National Democrats have said they plan to target both Steil and Van Orden as they seek to flip the House in 2026, though Van Orden’s district is seen as more vulnerable.
Still, Steil received a smattering of support throughout the night, and some attendees shouted at others to stop interrupting the Republican.
When one business owner complained that China is sending goods into the country through Canada and other countries and misrepresenting its origins, Steil said he would reach out to the U.S. trade representative on his behalf.
Perhaps the only bipartisan applause from the crowd came when several people thanked Steil for showing up in person.
“I applaud you for standing up here and taking it,” one person told Steil.
###