Republicans who won after rowdy town halls now avoiding them

DENVER (AP) — Republicans who benefited from rowdy town halls six years ago and harnessed a wave of discontent with Democrats to win seats in Congress are learning a hard lesson this week as they return home: The left is happy to return the favor.

From Maine to Montana, Democrats and their allies are spending this short congressional recess protesting elected Republican politicians who for the most part are trying to avoid the events that often turn into shouting matches.

Just like the tea party sympathizers who vented against Democrats and President Barack Obama, the new left and left-leaning protesters are taking out their ire on Republicans and their links to President Donald Trump.

In Denver this week, the activists targeted Republican Sen. Cory Gardner – denouncing him an inaccessible and beaming a picture of him fashioned into a "Wanted" poster to a wall of the Denver Art Museum while protesting Trump's plans to boost energy production on public lands.

Gardner "is supposed to represent us, but where is he?" said Emma Spett, a 22-year-old environmental activist from Denver who says she's "terrified" of environmental policy changes backed by Trump.

Gardner defeated a Democrat in 2010, and used impromptu town hall meetings heavily attended by tea party members in his campaign to rail against Obama's Affordable Health Care Act and incumbent congressional representatives he labeled as out of touch with voters.

Now an incumbent who doesn't face re-election until 2020, Gardner has no town halls scheduled on his calendar. Experts say it's a public appearance avoidance tactic that constituents detest but a way for incumbents to avoid being berated in widely publicized local events.