Hageman moves town hall events online due to safety concerns

CHEYENNE — Wyoming’s sole member of the U.S. House of Representatives announced Tuesday that her upcoming town halls will be online only due to safety concerns following a raucous event in Laramie last week that made national news.

“As the saying goes, ‘This is why we can’t have nice things,’” Harriet Hageman said in a news release late Tuesday morning.

At the town hall last Wednesday night in Laramie, more than 500 attendees packed into the auditorium of the historic Laramie Plains Civic Center. Hageman was met with boos and critical chants throughout the event.

Some constituents stood and clapped for Hageman, but they were outnumbered and drowned out by those who opposed the congresswoman’s policy positions and actions in the nation’s capital. Hageman called the disgruntled constituents at the event “hysterical.”

Her town halls in Cheyenne and Torrington, scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, respectively, have been moved to an online format after Hageman expressed fear for the safety of herself and others.

Virtual attendees can still submit questions prior to the event via online forms for Laramie County (tinyurl.com/ hageman-laramie) and Goshen County (tinyurl.com/ hageman-goshen).

According to her news release, more than 20 officers from multiple agencies were assigned to monitor a town hall in Wheatland on Thursday, the day after the Laramie event.

She added that staff in her Wyoming and Washington, D.C., offices have received “numerous, credible threatening phone calls and emails, currently being investigated by multiple law enforcement agencies.”

Despite the law enforcement presence, Hageman said an attendee followed her leaving the venue in Wheatland and initiated a physical confrontation with staff.

Platte County Sheriff David Russell told the WTE that there were around 15 officers from his staff working the event.

He added that the physical confrontation an attendee had with Hageman’s staff was a local woman in her 60s or 70s who was getting too close to Hageman as she was leaving and had to be held back as the congresswoman exited. She was not charged with a crime for her actions.

Hageman blamed the national Democratic Party for the disruptions and protests at her events.

“I draw the line when organized protestors intentionally create confrontation and chaos, escalating tensions to a point where violence seems inevitable,” Hageman wrote.

Laramie County Democratic Party Chairman Matthew Snyder said he was frustrated by Hageman’s use of the switch to virtual meetings as a way to make political statements while continuing to avoid answering questions from her constituents.

“I think it’s indicative of the fact that there are real questions that need to be answered,” he said. “If you look at her responses, she appears to be minimizing the concerns of many.”

Snyder said he was frustrated but unsurprised by Hageman’s decision, saying it is a sad reflection on the current state of the political atmosphere in the United States.

“Not everybody who’s angry about the state of our country is an extremist. And I think what’s happening is ... you’re casting a wide net here and saying, ‘Oh, well, they’re busing in people from out-of-state or this or that.’ It’s a distraction. That’s not the issue,” he said. “The issue is people are trying to figure out how to pay for health care. People are trying to figure out how to pay for school and pay for groceries, gas, eggs, for God’s sake. But the hysteria is more important?”

Hageman called on Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, both D-N.Y., to denounce organized disruptors and crime.

Snyder saw this, and critiques of the national Democratic Party, as a way for Hageman to “score political points” and avoid talking about practical issues that impact most Americans.

“I’m just a husband and a dad trying to figure it out for my family. And that’s, I would say, the majority of people. Party notwithstanding,” he said.

At the beginning of the month, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., encouraged Republican lawmakers to stop hosting town halls, echoing President Trump’s claims that the demonstrations are fueled by professional protesters.

Jeffries responded, “We don’t need paid protesters. The American people are with us,” according to the Associated Press.

Spokespeople for Wyoming’s two U.S. senators, John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, told the WTE on Tuesday that holding virtual events can often be more effective for reaching a wider audience and meeting more people in the state.

“Senator Barrasso regularly hosts tele-town halls with Senator Lummis, as they are the most effective way to reach as many towns and people as possible around Wyoming,” Barrasso’s communications director, Laura Mengelkamp, told the WTE in an emailed statement. “He travels back home to Wyoming nearly every weekend, and will continue to attend as many public events as possible throughout the state.”

Hageman’s announcement that her events will go virtual instead of being held in person did not cite convenience or reaching a wider audience as a reason for the change. Rather, she said the change was “because of Democrat threats of violence.”

Laramie County Commissioner Troy Thompson has been in Hageman’s shoes before, serving as an elected official under fire from constituents, though perhaps never as rip-roaring as what Hageman experienced in Laramie. He said that he prefers face-to-face conversations and meetings, but said he understands why Hageman made this decision.

“It doesn’t do anybody good to stand up there and get yelled at and not be able to have a conversation. So I understand why she’s doing it. I don’t blame her for doing it,” he said. “I think it’s shameful that we can’t have civil discourse, especially in the state of Wyoming. ... The people that end up losing are the people of Wyoming because the people that want to have civil discourse with our elected officials now don’t have that ability.”

Before the announcement that the town halls will move online, the event in Cheyenne had been relocated to a larger venue from the Surbugg/ Prentice Auditorium at Laramie County Community College to the Blue FCU Recreation & Athletics Complex at LCCC to accommodate for the anticipated number of constituents showing up, something that happened prior to the event in Laramie, as well.

Hageman said the move to virtual town halls will remain in effect until it seems safe to resume in-person events.

According to the news release from Hageman’s office, she has held 75 in-person town halls across the state since running for Congress in 2022, with at least three occurring in each of Wyoming’s 23 counties.

This story was published on March 26, 2025.