LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr has held regular “Coffee with your Congressman” events in local shops across his central Kentucky district for the few dozen people willing to hear an update from Washington.
But that was before Donald Trump became president.
On Monday night, hundreds of people packed a high school auditorium in Lexington to shout at their congressman, pelting him with questions about his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and his support for President Donald Trump. Even with a microphone, Barr had to raise his voice to be heard over the din of outrage, with people chanting “shame on you!” while holding up red signs to signal disagreement with his answers.
It was the 70th cup of coffee Barr has hosted since ousting a Democratic incumbent in 2012. But this year, Barr has been targeted by several loosely affiliated progressive groups that have sprung up at the outset of Trump’s presidency. They watch for Barr’s public appearances, advertise them through social media and other means and spend hours researching votes and writing questions for their growing army of activists intent on confronting their elected officials with facts.
“For the most part, as long as things were running smoothly in Washington, I didn’t bother Andy … But this time, it’s different,” said Peter Wedlund, a retired University of Kentucky pharmacy professor who researches issues and provides talking points for activists as part of the group Indivisible Bluegrass.
Anti-Trump anger has fueled a number of large protests across the country, culminating in a special election in a Republican House district in Georgia where a 30-year-old Democrat was the runaway top vote getter but fell just short of avoiding a June runoff with his closest GOP rival.
Democrats hope to harness such momentum for the midterm elections next year, where historically the political party in power has lost seats.
Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District is a prime candidate because it contains the Democratic strongholds of Lexington, the state’s second-largest city, and Frankfort, the state capitol. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included Barr in their list of battleground seats to target in 2018.
But Democrats have targeted Barr before, with no success. He easily won re-election in 2014 and 2016. And as chairman of a key subcommittee on the House Financial Services committee, Barr has already raised more than $700,000 dollars for his re-election campaign.
Barr said voters elected him and Trump because both promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which has led to an additional 400,000 people getting health insurance in Kentucky while also driving up the price of premiums.
“We haven’t done that yet. We have not yet delivered on that promise. And my view is that we need to deliver. Now is the time,” Barr said. “If we do that, the electoral outcomes will be very positive.”
But that strategy likely won’t work for people like Amanda Perkins, a 30-year-old diabetic who said she was able to finally purchase affordable health insurance from Kentucky’s exchange.
“Honestly, the ACA saved my life,” Perkins told Barr, eliciting thunderous cheers from the crowd.
Despite the large crowds, no Democrat has emerged to challenge Barr. Kentucky Democratic Party spokesman Daniel Lowry said “there is a lot of interest” in the seat and the party will field a strong candidate to challenge Barr. Until then, Barr says he will continue holding public events in Kentucky, even while other Republican officials are avoiding them. He says he is listening to the complaints, but they haven’t changed his mind.
“There is an intensity among progressives right now, but if you aggregate all of the inputs that I’m getting, it’s still a district that voted 58 percent for Donald Trump,” he said.
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