Tension flare at town hall as Iowa’s Hinson defends Trump

MASON CITY — Tensions flared Thursday at a Mason City town hall as Iowa Republican U.S. Rep.

Ashley Hinson was booed, heckled and shouted at as she defended President Donald Trump's agenda. About 200 people gathered in a large auditorium on the campus of North Iowa Area Community College to listen to Hinson provide an update on her work in Congress and answer questions during the hourlong forum. Hinson, of Marion, emphasized her support for Trump's policies, including border security, tax cuts and deregulation.



She addressed concerns about immigration, advocating for comprehensive reform and self-deportation for illegal immigrants. Hinson also discussed her bipartisan initiatives to improve government efficiency and support for veterans. She responded to questions on health care, Medicaid and the impact of executive orders on federal employees.

Speakers expressed ire over the Trump administration’s actions cutting federal spending and slashing the federal workforce, as well the administration’s handling of the deportation of migrants and defiance of court orders. While there was smattering of supportive applause, the crowd largely was critical of the Trump administration and pressed Hinson to stand up to him and push back against the executive branch. Rep.

Ashley Hinson gives an update of her work in Congress during her town hall in Cerro Gordo County at the North Iowa Community Auditorium at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) “When will you and your Republican colleagues take back your legislative power to rein in President Trump?” Al Nickerson, 70, of Clear Lake, asked. The question was met with cheers from the audience.

“When are you going to rein that power back in? The executive branch is running the other two branches right now,” said Nickerson, a retired Democrat who said he worked with adults with disabilities. “I think we would probably have a fundamental disagreement in this room about that, because when I look at what Congress is doing, we are working on executing exactly what we campaigned on doing and what the President campaigned on doing,” Hinson said. She was often drowned out by boos and derisive outbursts.

“You’re lying!” one person yelled. Al Nickerson of Clear Lake, Iowa, asks a question of Rep. Ashley Hinson at the town hall in Cerro Gordo County at the North Iowa Community Auditorium at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa, on Thursday, April 24, 2025.

(Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) “Americans overwhelmingly rejected the status quo in November because our country was going in the wrong direction,” Hinson said in her opening remarks. “High inflation, open borders and hardworking men and women in Iowa and across the country felt like their voices were not heard by their leaders. Families in Iowa want to have safe streets, affordable groceries and gas and make sure that their kids have opportunities to live out the American dream.

And that is what President Trump and his team are delivering.” She added Congress over the decades “has ceded a lot of its powers to unelected bureaucrats” and is working to “take a lot of that power back” through legislation strengthening congressional oversight of federal agencies' rules. “Actually, Congress has executed its power over the executive branch,” she continued, prompting shouts of disbelief and disagreement from several in the crowd.

Joanne Robinson (center) of Charles City, Iowa, cheers as she and Jeff Steven (left) and Michelle Krumwiede (right) applaud as Rep. Ashley Hinson speaks at the town hall in Cerro Gordo County at the North Iowa Community Auditorium at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. The three, all of Charles City are officers in the Floyd County Iowa GOP.

(Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) Steve Demuth, 69, a retired technology and biomedical industry professional from Decorah, asked Hinson how she expects the United States to be able to compete in the world as Republicans wage what he called “an absolute war on competence, a war on science and a war on truth.” “I want to know when Congress is going to stand up and say too much is too much,” he said. Hinson responded by highlighting the need to respect taxpayer dollars, cut waste and focus on policies that grow jobs in the private sector, including in the biomedical field, rather than by growing the size of the federal workforce.

She said efforts by billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to root out wasteful spending, inefficiencies and fraud in the federal government frees up resources to ensure services and benefits are strengthened and maintained, and go to those who need them most. Colleen Lawler, a Worth County resident, urged Hinson to support increased funding for immigration judges “so that we can give the hearing to those that we wish to deport.” Audience members point to a fellow member who’s been standing with his hand raised to ask a question of Rep.

Ashley Hinson at the town hall in Cerro Gordo County at the North Iowa Community Auditorium at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) Hinson invoked the wave of border crossings under former President Joe Biden, and said the Biden administration's U.S.

Customs and Border Protection One app — a tool that allowed migrants, particularly those in Mexico, to schedule appointments at designated ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum — created a significant backlog of people who came to the country illegally, and she said she’s not sure whether there are enough resources to dedicate to those hearings.

This app was a key part of the Biden administration's strategy to manage border crossings and reduce pressure on the system. “It's why I was so passionate about advocating for programs like Remain in Mexico, where they had to wait before they can come in and try and do that,” Hinson said. Rep.

Ashley Hinson gives an update of her work in Congress during her town hall in Cerro Gordo County at the North Iowa Community Auditorium at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) She said the priority is to deport individuals with criminal records, particularly gang members, which is aided by a Trump administration executive order classifying these gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. But having individual hearings for all cases would take an impractical amount of time, Hinson said.

“Look, we've got so many (pending immigration cases) that if we had every single one of these people have an individual hearing, it would take 100 years,” she said, sparking outrage and shouting back from the crowd, including some who yelled “due process!” Hinson highlighted her efforts to keep transgender athletes out of women’s sports, and working to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE Act, that would require people to show proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.

She pushed back on what she called the “nonsense, and frankly, straight up lies being spread” by Democrats about Trump’s “common sense agenda.” She argued that failing to pass an extension of expiring tax cuts approved by Trump during his first term would cost an average family of four in Northeast Iowa about $1,300 a year in increased taxes, even as Democrats warn the extension would disproportionately benefit the nation's top earners. Al Nickerson of Clear Lake, Iowa, asks a question of Rep.

Ashley Hinson at the town hall in Cerro Gordo County at the North Iowa Community Auditorium at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) Shawn Pecinovsky, 52, a retired Army officer and VA employee from Cedar Rapids, raised concerns about job security and the impact of executive orders on federal workers, including the removal of collective bargaining agreements for VA employees under the guise of national security. A federal judge this week said Trump appeared to be targeting unions that have challenged his policies in court by stripping hundreds of thousands of federal employees of the ability to collectively bargain over working conditions, according to Reuters.

Pecinovsky also expressed concern about the firings of probationary employees, which sparked a legal challenge by the American Federation of Government Employees. The U.S.

Supreme Court earlier this month allowed the administration's firing of 16,000 probationary federal employees to go forward while the case plays out in the lower courts. A federal judge in San Francisco last week said claims by federal agencies that the probationary workers were fired because of their individual poor performance was "a total sham" that could handicap their careers, Reuters reported. Pecinovsky said he’s concerned about the potential for being fired for political reasons and the impact on veterans who work at the VA from increased workloads due to firings, hiring freezes and employee buyouts.

Veteran and Veterans Administration worker Shawn Pecinovsky of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, asks a question of Rep. Ashley Hinson as his service dog stands at his feet during the town hall in Cerro Gordo County at the North Iowa Community Auditorium at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) “And my question to you or your office was, where's my representation?” he asked Hinson.

“ ...

Because I feel my representation, both my senators and my House rep, haven't said a damn thing about all this. Because I don't see the executive orders as being legal. I see it as abuse of power.

” Hinson acknowledged the concerns and emphasized the need for efficiency and accountability in government agencies, including the VA, and reiterated her commitment to supporting veterans and ensuring they have good jobs and access to necessary services. The Mason City event was Hinson’s first in-person town hall she’s held since the new Congress convened in January. She hosted a telephone town hall earlier this month, where Iowans raised concerns over record-high egg prices, sweeping reciprocal tariffs on U.

S. imports and cuts to the Social Security Administration. Former U.

S. attorney Kevin Techau, 66, of Cedar Rapids, launched a campaign last week to seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Hinson for Northeast Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District seat in the 2026 general election. The district includes Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque and Mason City.

Hinson has been seen as a rising star in the Republican Party since she flipped the blue seat red in 2020, ousting Democrat Abby Finkenauer by campaigning on kitchen-table issues and pledging to be a taxpayer advocate. Hinson, 41, then won re-election in 2022 by 8 percentage points against Democratic former state lawmaker Liz Mathis of Hiawatha, and handily won re-election to a third term in 2024 against Democratic challenger Sarah Corkery of Cedar Falls and no-party candidate Jody Puffett of Delhi. More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at 5th and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest.

More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest. More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest. More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest.

More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest. More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest. More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest.

More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest. More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest. More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest.

More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at Fifth and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest. More than 1,000 people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park at 5th and Brady streets, and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest. Hundreds of people gathered at Davenport's Friends of MLK Park and along the sidewalks of Brady Street to participate in the nationwide Hands Off protest.

Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter..