After Donald Trump’s inauguration, groups across the country organized to pressure their representatives to resist policies proposed by the president. One popular strategy, has been to attend town hall meetings held by members of Congress and ask questions that cast policies supported by Trump in a critical light. This strategy had previously been deployed by conservatives pushing against policies such as the Affordable Care Act during the Obama administration. When representatives have not scheduled meetings, constituents have pressured them to meet publicly. In some cases, constituents have even organized meetings independently of their representative and invited the representative to attend.

The following is a list of town hall style meetings held by Appalachian members of the U.S. House of Representatives since Inauguration Day as compiled from email newsletters, social media posts, official statements and phone conversations with the offices of the representatives. Entering a street address, such as “62 Morell Way, Morgantown, WV” filters the list to the representative for that address.

A telephone icon (☎️) indicates meetings that were held over a phone system rather than in person. An icon indicates events where constituents could pose questions through Facebook posts. A ✔️ icon indicates representatives who voted for the American Health Care Act and an ❌ icon indicates representatives who voted against the act. The legislation, which was promoted as a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, was a contentious issue at town hall events.

Day 134

June 02, 2017
District work period ends

131

May 30, 2017
District work period begins
James Comer (R) (KY-1)
Mark Walker (R) (NC-6) x4

124

May 23, 2017
David P. Roe (R) (TN-1)

123

May 22, 2017
Robert Pittenger (R) (NC-9)

119

May 18, 2017
Rob Woodall (R) (GA-7)
Thomas A. Garrett Jr. (R) (VA-5) ?

116

May 15, 2017
John Katko (R) (NY-24)

113

May 12, 2017
James Comer (R) (KY-1) x2

112

May 11, 2017
Alma S. Adams (D) (NC-12)
James Comer (R) (KY-1)
Matt Cartwright (D) (PA-17)
Terri A. Sewell (D) (AL-7) x2

111

May 10, 2017
James Comer (R) (KY-1)
Henry C. “Hank” Johnson Jr. (D) (GA-4)
Terri A. Sewell (D) (AL-7)

110

May 09, 2017
Thomas A. Garrett Jr. (R) (VA-5)

109

May 08, 2017
Terri A. Sewell (D) (AL-7)

107

May 06, 2017
Tom Reed (R) (NY-23) x3

104

May 03, 2017
Bill Johnson (R) (OH-6)

102

May 01, 2017
Alexander X. Mooney (R) (WV-2)

101

April 30, 2017
Jamie Raskin (D) (MD-8)

98

April 27, 2017
Doug Collins (R) (GA-9)

95

April 24, 2017
Evan H. Jenkins (R) (WV-3)
Andy Barr (R) (KY-6)

92

April 21, 2017
District work period ends

91

April 20, 2017
Gary J. Palmer (R) (AL-6)
Paul Tonko (D) (NY-20)

90

April 19, 2017
James Comer (R) (KY-1)

89

April 18, 2017
James Comer (R) (KY-1)
David P. Roe (R) (TN-1)
Trent Kelly (R) (MS-1)
Gary J. Palmer (R) (AL-6)
Matt Cartwright (D) (PA-17)

84

April 13, 2017
James Comer (R) (KY-1)
John J. Faso (R) (NY-19)
Thomas A. Garrett Jr. (R) (VA-5)

83

April 12, 2017
James Comer (R) (KY-1) x2

82

April 11, 2017
James Comer (R) (KY-1)

81

April 10, 2017
District work period begins
James Comer (R) (KY-1) x3

76

April 05, 2017
Lou Barletta (R) (PA-11)

75

April 04, 2017
Jody B. Hice (R) (GA-10)
Bill Johnson (R) (OH-6)

74

April 03, 2017
David P. Roe (R) (TN-1)

72

April 01, 2017
Tom Reed (R) (NY-23) x4

71

March 31, 2017
Claudia Tenney (R) (NY-22)
Thomas A. Garrett Jr. (R) (VA-5)

69

March 29, 2017
Brad R. Wenstrup (R) (OH-2)

67

March 27, 2017
A. Drew Ferguson IV (R) (GA-3)

65

March 25, 2017
Jamie Raskin (D) (MD-8)
Tim Ryan (D) (OH-13)

64

March 24, 2017
Alma S. Adams (D) (NC-12)
James Comer (R) (KY-1)

62

March 22, 2017
Claudia Tenney (R) (NY-22)
Trey Gowdy (R) (SC-4)

60

March 20, 2017
Bob Gibbs (R) (OH-7)
Patrick J. Tiberi (R) (OH-12)

58

March 18, 2017
Michael F. Doyle (D) (PA-14)

54

March 14, 2017
Rob Woodall (R) (GA-7)
Matt Cartwright (D) (PA-17)

53

March 13, 2017
Alma S. Adams (D) (NC-12)
John J. Faso (R) (NY-19)

51

March 11, 2017
Tom Reed (R) (NY-23) x4

48

March 08, 2017
Jeff Duncan (R) (SC-3)

47

March 07, 2017
Gregg Harper (R) (MS-3)

46

March 06, 2017
David P. Roe (R) (TN-1)

42

March 02, 2017
John K. Delaney (D) (MD-6)

41

March 01, 2017
David B. McKinley (R) (WV-1)
Henry C. “Hank” Johnson Jr. (D) (GA-4)
Tom Graves (R) (GA-14)
Andy Barr (R) (KY-6)

40

February 28, 2017
David P. Joyce (R) (OH-14)

39

February 27, 2017
Mike Kelly (R) (PA-3)
Alexander X. Mooney (R) (WV-2)
Bill Johnson (R) (OH-6)

37

February 25, 2017
Gary J. Palmer (R) (AL-6)

36

February 24, 2017
District work period ends

35

February 23, 2017
James Comer (R) (KY-1)
Robert Pittenger (R) (NC-9) x2

34

February 22, 2017
Matt Cartwright (D) (PA-17)
Andy Barr (R) (KY-6)

33

February 21, 2017
Barbara Comstock (R) (VA-10)
Marsha Blackburn (R) (TN-7)

32

February 20, 2017
District work period begins
Paul Tonko (D) (NY-20)

29

February 17, 2017
Bill Johnson (R) (OH-6)

28

February 16, 2017
Barry Loudermilk (R) (GA-11)
Doug Collins (R) (GA-9)
Mo Brooks (R) (AL-5)

27

February 15, 2017
Rob Woodall (R) (GA-7)
Jody B. Hice (R) (GA-10)

26

February 14, 2017
David P. Roe (R) (TN-1)

21

February 09, 2017
Michael F. Doyle (D) (PA-14)

20

February 08, 2017
Barbara Comstock (R) (VA-10)

18

February 06, 2017
Diane Black (R) (TN-6)

5

January 24, 2017
Bill Johnson (R) (OH-6)

1

January 20, 2017
Inauguration day

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Methodology

100 Days in Appalachia compiled a list of members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have at least part of their district in one of the counties that make up Appalachia, as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission. The names of representatives, their contact information and social media accounts were aggregated using the Google Civic Information API. The office of each representative was called in February to build an initial list of recently held and upcoming meetings. Their responses were recorded in a custom database. Staff members of representatives were also asked how constituents could best learn about future public meetings. In those initial calls, the representative’s email newsletter and social media accounts were most frequently listed as the best way for constituents to find out about upcoming meetings. Based on this, the database of meetings was updated based on messages sent to the representatives’ email newsletters as well as tweets from the representative that promoted meetings. Statements by representatives, as collected by ProPublica’s Represent news application were an additional source of information about meetings.

The definition of town hall meeting used by this project is broad. This list includes any event that a representative referred to as a town hall meeting provided that it was open to the public. Events which required pre-registration were included as were events where participation was restricted to residents of the district. Many representatives choose to hold “tele-town hall” meetings in which participants can ask questions using a phone system. Others have begun to use technologies such as Facebook Live to respond to constituents. Such meetings not held in person have been criticized as being less accessible, but are included in this list so readers can compare the types of meetings held be different representatives.

Header photo courtesy Rep. Evan Jenkins via Facebook.