It was a hostile crowd that met Representative Andy Harris as he held his first in-person town hall Saturday on the Eastern Shore this congressional session on the campus of Chesapeake College.
The Eastern Shore Republican was stopped a number of times in his efforts to explain his opposition to the Affordable Care and his claim that Medicaid outcomes were the same as for the uninsured.
Instead he called or high risk pools for people with high medical costs and turning more control of Medicaid over to the states.
On health care he told the Salisbury Daily Times that he had been leaning towards the president’s failed health care plan that his Freedom Caucus scuttled.
The hall was virtually filled with his critics and afterward Coleen Gizinski from Harford County said she was disappointed in his response.
“He’s the same as always. Nothing’s changed. Doesn’t answer questions.” She said that, “It was a pretty rowdy crowd and with good reason. I mean we finally got a town hall. But it shouldn’t have taken this long to have any kind of dialogue to listen to your people.”
But Harris supporters were also seen among the crowd with their signs.
One of them identified herself simply as MJ from Queen Anne’s County who expressed disgust with how the meeting turned out.
“You know what I think he should have left. For him to combat all that and I’m sure they were all told to give him a hard time, I think he acted gentlemanly. And I was very proud of him.”
There were also those from the Worcester County Young Democrats who are hoping that politics could get beyond the partisanship that has marked the recent years.
But Maya Knepp with the group added, “I think the highlight was definitely seeing all the reactions among everyone, how passionate about their own individual policy ideas and beliefs, to see how strong we all are together.”
