Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, left, points to the balcony area of the DeYor Performing Arts Center in downtown Youngstown, where he hosted a town hall meeting Monday. With him is state Rep. Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown. (Photo by Eric R. Hudson)

YOUNGSTOWN — An overflow crowd loudly cheered as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who unsuccessfully ran in 2024 for vice president, answered questions at a town hall in Youngstown — something Congressman Michael Rulli, the Salem Republican who represents the district — has failed to do so far.

Waltz took aim at Rulli, saying Monday that he is disrespecting his constituents by not meeting with them.

“You can disagree with your constituents, but you have the responsibility to serve them,” Walz said Monday. “You can’t disrespect them and tell them you’re not willing to talk with them or what they’re doing is a pathetic thing. It’s not really pathetic to honor the First Amendment of the Constitution, which gives people the right to peacefully assemble to petition their government for their grievances.”

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Anderson invited Rulli to Monday’s town hall, which the congressman declined.

In response, Rulli declined to join Anderson “and your failed vice presidential candidate Walz at your political rally funded with Democrat campaign funds,” and, “I am terribly sorry I will be unable to attend your pathetic spectacle in person.”

Walz said, “It was a simple request to do a town hall, which is a time-honored tradition.”

Walz added that Rulli’s statement is “a symptom of Donald Trump. When you don’t have anything to offer substance-wise or you don’t have a real response, you just attack people personally.”

The town hall at downtown Youngstown’s DeYor Performing Arts Center was the Monday showcase event of Walz’s visit to Ohio with about 3,000 people attending, which included about 600 in an overflow area.

Walz said he was overwhelmed by the turnout.

“To be honest with you, I wish you would never worry about the world melting down around us,” he said.

People came out Monday, Walz said, because they recognize they have a right to be heard.

Earlier Monday, Walz spoke to smaller crowds in Zanesville and Martins Ferry, and with the news media outside the Foxconn plant, which used to be the home of the General Motors Lordstown facility that closed in 2019, putting about 1,600 out of work. He will speak today at a town hall in Lorain. Walz spoke Sunday in Columbus at the Network for Public Education’s national conference.

In response to Republican House members not holding in-person town halls, Walz has held a number of those events in GOP congressional districts in the past month in Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, Wisconsin and in his home state of Minnesota.

Walz said that the anger shown against Trump’s policies “is kind of the Democratic Tea Party movement. I think it is the energy.”

The Republican Tea Party in response to the presidency of Democrat Barack Obama led to a Republican wave in the 2010 election.

Youngstown is the most populous city in Mahoning, the most populous county in the 11-county 6th Congressional District, represented by Rulli for the past 10 months.

The district is considered a safe Republican district with Rulli winning the November general election by 33.4% over Democrat Michael L. Kripchak.

Rulli hasn’t held a public meeting in the district.

But Rulli said during the first three months of this year, he’s spoken with thousands of constituents; toured dozens of facilities including factories, healthcare centers and universities; sponsored legislation to protect Social Security, expand rural access to healthcare and broadband connectivity and “enact President Trump’s America First agenda;” and conducted over 50 media interviews.

Rulli said since last month “a coordinated campaign was launched to pressure Republicans with aggressive, threatening and disrespectful calls, mostly from non-constituents, to host satellite DNC (Democratic National Committee) rallies in their district, inappropriately dubbed ‘town halls.’ This effort is being funded by left-wing organizations and amplified by the failed Democratic Party infrastructure in a dishonest attempt to stage a grassroots movement.”

Those who have organized rallies against Rulli and Trump say the protestors live in Rulli’s district, and no one is getting paid.

In the November election, the Republican ticket of Trump and J.D. Vance beat Democrats Kamala Harris and Walz by 9.4% in Mahoning County. Trump-Vance won Ohio by 11.2% on the way to capturing the White House.

Trump, who won Mahoning in 2020 by 1.9% over Democrat Joe Biden, is the first Republican to win the county in two straight presidential elections since Herbert Hoover in 1928 and 1932. Between Hoover and Trump, the only Republican presidential candidates to win Mahoning County were Dwight Eisenhower in 1956 and Richard Nixon in 1972, when both were running for second terms.

In his letter to Anderson, Rulli wrote he was in Washington, D.C., on Monday “fulfilling my duty to the more than 750,000 constituents I represent. I will be voting on important legislation – continuing my work to grow our economy, protect Social Security and Medicaid for our most vulnerable citizens, and ensuring a strong future for our children.”

The House schedule showed the legislative body voted Monday on bills related to providing assistance to military veterans, their families and surviving spouses.

Anderson wrote: “Your constituents may have voted for you, but they didn’t vote to pay more at the grocery store, to have their health care ripped away from them or to live in the chaos and confusion that has defined Trump’s presidency so far. As a member of Congress, you are the voice for your constituents in Washington. Join us to truly listen to what they’re saying.”

Anderson added: “Families are suffering because of the cruel and reckless actions of the Trump administration and a Congress that rubber stamps every move.”

dskolnick@mojonews.com