The only constituent to attend Republican Rep. Steve King’s town hall in Iowa on Saturday said “it was very awkward.”
Jessica Birch, 21, said she woke up hungover but felt it was her civic duty to attend the forum in Grundy County. She arrived to a nearly empty parking lot, except for a few police cars there for security.
A Reuters journalist tweeted a photo of two people in the audience that went viral, but Birch said the other woman was an intern for King.
The scene at Steve King’s town hall today in Grundy Center, Iowa. Photo by Brenna Norman pic.twitter.com/PEtHkmmaFN
— corinne_perkins (@corinne_perkins) August 17, 2019
“It was very awkward, it was a very weird thing,” Birch told Starting Line. “Part of me wanted to leave, but it would be rude to leave, and the Midwestern part of me couldn’t do that. I feel bad for him a bit. But then part of me was really, really angry because other Democrats didn’t show up. I kind of let stuff he said slide, on stuff like abortion and healthcare, because I don’t want to get in an argument with him. I already know you’re wrong. Let’s talk about things I actually care about.”
King, who has faced condemnation from his own party for his inflammatory comments, most recently suggested human history is rooted in rape and incest while defending his anti-abortion stance.
The congressman began the town hall by joking about a Rick Santorum event that had low attendance, then gave an update on trade policies before asking Birch if she had any questions. The University of Northern Iowa student asked him about housing costs, reparations, and student loans.
“The whole hour for me was just a blur of what I was saying. I was hungover, I didn’t have any coffee, I was just there,” Birch said. “If I could go back, I would have been more ready to ask questions.”
She said her friends later told her she should have yelled at him, but she said that’s easier said than done. “Being the only person in the room is different,” she said.
Birch declined to take a photo with King at the end of the event. “I politely declined, mostly because I plan to run for office and I don’t need a picture of Steve King and I shaking hands in the future,” she said.
