East Bay constituents pack townhall held by Congressman Eric Swalwell
For the first time since the inauguration, East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell held a town hall Tuesday night to talk with constituents about their concerns.
The town hall in Union City was one of the most well-attended in years. There were 500 seats made available, and all of them were gone in the first hour after the town hall was announced.
There are almost another thousand people on the waiting list hoping to get in. Congressman Swalwell said he thinks that's just because so many people want their voices heard now that the new administration is in office.
CBS Bay Area's Katie Nielsen also had the chance to sit down with him in an exclusive one-on-one interview to talk about his agenda during Trump's first hundred days in office.
"I will work to protect you, and we will protect, working together, each other. We can do that as a community," Swalwell said to the crowd gathered at the Mark Green Sports Center.
He represents the southern part of Alameda County in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Swalwell has been an outspoken critic specifically of the Trump administration both four years ago and now — rising to national prominence with repeated appearances on cable news networks and his involvement in the Trump impeachment hearings. Now, he's vowing to bring the fight back to the Capitol once again.
"My vote really does matter right now. The Republicans cannot lose a single vote right now, so if they can't keep it all together, and they never have been able to, Democrats have leverage," said Congressman Swalwell.
"Elections are all about values, and the American people have spoken very clearly, they are not buying what Democrats are selling. So, what needs to change within the party to get people's trust back," Nielsen asked him.
"We need to tell a better story. People aren't buying the story they associate with the Democratic party. We need to be fighting for those core values and not let the other issues that don't really affect us, that can't crowd out what really matters," he says.
What mattered to the people at the town hall were issues around immigration, protecting Social Security and Medicare, but the biggest topic of discussion was Elon Musk and DOGE.
"Why is he going through our computer system and who are the minions that are with him," asked one woman.
Swalwell said unless Republicans stop making cuts to federal programs and departments, he will encourage all Democrats to force the government into a shutdown when the current spending bill expires on March 14.
"I would argue government is shutting down right now. They are shutting it down intentionally and if they want our votes, we are pro-helping people, keeping the government open," said Swalwell.
He said, even then, he would only vote for extending the spending bill for 30 days at a time as a way to keep Trump and Musk in check.
"Democrats still search for that answer, they search for what to do," said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University.
He said threatening a government shutdown is the nuclear option, but Democrats don't have many other options because of their minority position in both houses.
"In the first six months of this year, Democrats are going to be without some moves. It's really later in the year, into the August, September period to the end of September when the federal fiscal year ends that Democrats want to exercise some leverage," said McCuan.
Until then, McCuan said Democrats need to work on reconnecting with voters.
"Democrats are searching for a message. They're searching for a cohesive standing place where they can push back about the administration but at the same time present their own alternative view. They don't have those talking points yet, but Democrats lack that message and messenger and they'd better find it pretty quickly," said McCuan.
A new Quinnipiac poll released this week shows Democrats hit an all-time low when it came to Congressional approval with only 21% of people thinking they were doing a good job in the House and Senate, where Republicans are at an all-time high of 40%.
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