Facing a crowd of concerned Boulder residents at a town hall on Saturday, April 12, Rep. Joe Neguse and Sen. Michael Bennet urged them to stay engaged — and not lose hope — in the face of what they called dangerous and unconstitutional actions by the Trump administration.
The appearance by Bennet, a three-term U.S. senator, was among his first major public events since launching his gubernatorial campaign on April 11. At times, the event felt like an introduction to his candidacy.
Speaking to a packed lecture hall at CU Boulder, the Democratic leaders called on constituents to resist complacency and help defend civil rights, public institutions and the rule of law. The town hall was one of several Neguse has held across the state this spring.
“I, like many of you, am deeply concerned about our country and the road we are on,” Neguse said in his opening remarks. “This moment is going to require all of us to engage in ways that we haven’t before.”
“They didn’t lose hope, they didn’t lose spirit,” Bennet said, referring to people in the past who fought against tyranny. “They didn’t lose sense of their responsibility to make sure that we got to the other side.”
The event followed a March 22 town hall in Louisville that drew such a large crowd some attendees were turned away. On Saturday, locals filled a large CU Boulder lecture hall, offering energetic applause as Neguse entered. State Sen. Judy Amabile and State Rep. Kyle Brown were also present.
The first member of the public to comment was Pam Grace. “I just already feel such a sense of gratitude, of hope,” she said, piecing her question together while fighting back tears. “I wish I wasn’t so emotional right now.”
“We all are,” echoed the crowd.
Grace asked how the country can better address the frustrations of working-class Americans — and why the Democratic Party has struggled to win back their support. “Obviously being outraged did not work in the last campaign, and being outraged now is doing nothing.”
Bennet tied that frustration to limited access to economic opportunity, tracing it back to Reagan-era policies. He said students today face fewer prospects than graduates 20 years ago and pointed to persistently low reading scores and an inadequate education system.
“This is an outrage and our party needs to have answers to that,” Bennet said. “And my view is that one of those answers should not be to defend a system of public education, for example, that was designed in the 17th century.”
Luke Wheeler attended the town hall to speak up about immigration. His wife holds a green card. “I’m very concerned, on a personal level, for her. I don’t feel safe going through airports,” he said. He asked what action people can take when it feels like rights are being stripped away.
Neguse agreed and said the Trump administration is also eroding law firms and higher education institutions. “We are using the tools that we have,” he said, citing his leadership of a House litigation task force bringing federal cases to court.
He emphasized the importance of public engagement. “Sharing with us informs our ability to pursue different legislative and legal options.”
“I just think [it’s] important for us to build a coalition of the American people that are going to stand up for the rule of law and for our heritage as a nation of immigrants,” Bennet said. Part of doing so, he added, is speaking up. “Because that’s how you build that kind of coalition that is ultimately going to push back.”
Neguse encouraged attendees to have difficult conversations with people who hold different views. “It’s going to be important to make the case to them on the merits, because it’s the only way I think we’re going to find ourselves out of this conundrum.”
Attendees asked about the future of Democratic leadership and whether someone could rally the party around a unified vision.
“We’re going to have to find a way to synthesize the leadership,” Neguse responded, especially in a media environment where Trump dominates.
“I believe strongly that the face of the Democratic Party in the Senate needs to be people at least 20 years younger than I,” said Bennet, who is 60.
He was also asked to justify his votes to confirm some of President Trump’s nominees.
“I have not taken the position that I’m going to vote against every single one unilaterally, and I don’t think that’s the position Colorado wants me to take,” Bennet said, adding that he appreciates others who do take that position. “It’s good to live in a democracy.”
Asked what more lawmakers can do to stop Trump’s actions, Neguse responded, “There’s no panacea. … It’s going to require a combination of all these different legislative steps, litigation strategies, folks on the ground mobilizing, stepping up, making your voices heard.”
He gave as an example a lawsuit filed by House and Senate Democrats against the Department of Justice, the Federal Election Commission and other entities over Trump’s executive orders to modify elections.
State Sen. Amabile also discussed action at the state level, including an immigrants’ rights bill and protections for reproductive health and emergency care. She pointed to bipartisan efforts to close Colorado’s $1.2 billion budget shortfall in a way “that does the least amount of harm and the most amount of good that we could do.”
State Rep. Brown, who represents eastern Boulder County, warned that the proposed $1.5 trillion in Medicaid cuts would hit hard. “We are going to have some serious conversations about how we protect the most vulnerable in Colorado in the best way,” he said, adding that he’s focused on protecting children, low-income families and the workforce. “Because healthcare is a human right.”
“I have a lot of hope,” Amabile said. “I think Colorado is really in a good position to do well, and I want us to make smart decisions about who is leading our state, because it really matters.”
Neguse added, “We have to resist the temptation [to think] all is lost and that we have no capacity to be able to prevent something like [a third Trump term], which would be blatantly unconstitutional, from happening.” He noted that the Trump administration has lost the majority of cases brought against it in the courts.
He quoted a line he said is often overlooked in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech: “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.”
“So the question for us is how can we formulate an affirmative vision,” Neguse said — one that he described as a contrast to the Republican weaponization of discontent and scapegoating of immigrants and other marginalized groups.
At the end of the town hall, attendees erupted in applause.
Wheeler, who had arrived feeling disturbed by how quickly constitutional rights seem to be eroding — especially for immigrants — told Boulder Reporting Lab that he left feeling more hopeful.
“Despair is never productive. I think hope is the only path,” Wheeler said.
Neguse, earlier in the event, had noted that no Republican congressman from Colorado held a town hall from January through March.
“Because they know that these policies are indefensible,” he said. “They know that when questioned, they have no response. We’re just gonna have to keep up the drumbeat.”
I think democratic voters are sick and tired of their representatives voting with Republicans on anything right now. I don’t know why they’re so proud to disagree with each other but it is very much not appreciated. Because of those nominees airplanes are less safe, medical research is frozen solid, and the economy is in hospice! I will not be voting for Bennett because DINO fossils belong in museums.