Angry Florida voters hold ‘empty chair’ town halls for absent Republicans

Voters in Gainesville and High Springs, Florida, a rural area north of the city, held empty chair town halls this past week after Cammack declined to hold a town hall after numerous requests.

At a 25 April empty chair town hall in Gainesville, Florida, several constituents, which included retired federal workers and teachers, expressed frustration with a lack of response from Cammack’s office and several cited promises from her office that a town hall would be scheduled in April 2025.

“People are afraid. They’re celebrating when their social security check shows up because they’re afraid it might not,” said Jenn Powell, co-chair of the Alachua County Labor Coalition, and one of the organizers of the town hall. “So while Kat Cammack is not listening to her constituents, we decided to have a town hall without her, and will deliver the forms of questions and video to her office.”