U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton meets heated crowd at packed Arkansas venue

Constituents pack venue, boo, shout down senator

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Dardanelle, takes a health care question from Kati McFarland (left) of Springdale on Wednesday at a meeting at the Springdale Performing Arts Center. Cotton took questions and comments from a capacity crowd of more than 2,000 people.
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Dardanelle, takes a health care question from Kati McFarland (left) of Springdale on Wednesday at a meeting at the Springdale Performing Arts Center. Cotton took questions and comments from a capacity crowd of more than 2,000 people.

SPRINGDALE -- Opponents of President Donald Trump packed a 2,200-seat high school theater Wednesday night, firing questions at U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and drowning out the state's junior senator whenever they were dissatisfied with his answers.

Hundreds more stood outside the Pat Walker Theater in Springdale, unable to gain admission after the fire marshal determined that the building was already full.

A new anti-Trump group called Ozark Indivisible helped organize Wednesday's meeting.

The activists emphasized their unhappiness with the direction the country is heading, and they repeatedly drowned out the Republican lawmaker from Dardanelle, often making it impossible to hear his answers over the roar of the crowd.

[FULL VIDEO: Watch the complete town hall in a larger version here]

"This is a pretty hostile crowd," one audience member told Cotton.

Cotton stood patiently while opponents chanted "Do Your Job" and "Tax Returns, Tax Returns," a reference to the forms Trump has declined to release.

They cheered for immigrants and for protecting the environment.

They booed when Cotton tried to explain his position on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare. They booed some more when he expressed support for the use of "clean coal" technology and natural gas as part of a well-rounded national energy policy.

And they heckled him when he spoke about securing the borders and cutting the federal deficit.

Dillon Word, 32, spoke calmly while questioning the Republican Party's spending priorities.

"If we're so concerned about the deficit, why are we building a wall that costs tens of billions of dollars?" the Bentonville man asked, a question that fired up the crowd.

Cotton's answer was hard to hear above the tumult in at least portions of the auditorium.

Throughout the evening, activists waved signs expressing a variety of messages: "Immigrants Make America Great," "We Need Those Latinos" and "Stop Separating Families."

Others carried signs reading: "Yes or No" and "Answer the Question."

While the crowd was overwhelmingly anti-Trump and hostile to the senator, he did have supporters sprinkled throughout the building.

His parents sat on the front row, and others occasionally spoke in his favor.

"We love you, Tom," one friendly voice called out.

Cotton was scheduled to be at the meeting for 90 minutes but announced that he would stay an extra half-hour to listen to constituents and respond to their comments.

After he had asked his question, Word said he appreciated that Cotton had listened to him.

"I'm grateful that he came out because we had a chance to speak with our congressman. We don't often get to do that," he said.

But he expressed dissatisfaction with Cotton's answers.

"It's unfortunate that he's giving talking points instead of actually speaking from the heart and trying to understand what his constituency is asking of him," Word added.

Metro on 02/23/2017

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