With little notice, U.S. Rep. John McGuire hosted his third telephone town hall this past Tuesday — despite repeated requests from both sides of the aisle for an in-person meeting with the Republican who has represented Virginia’s 5th District since January.
Adding salt to that wound, McGuire told those on the call he has been traveling the district and meeting with constituents during Congress’ August recess. McGuire even told one person on the call he had been to Charlottesville — a city that once held a mock town hall with a cardboard cutout of the congressman because he would not attend — “a million times.”
McGuire told those on the call Tuesday he wants to hear from all of his constituents, even if they differ with him politically.
“We may disagree — I still love you and want to hear your ideas,” McGuire said.
Not every district residents sees it that way. After McGuire’s last telephone town hall in February, he was lambasted for having his office screen callers and accepting those who praised his work. Multiple people who tried to call in with criticism reached out to The Daily Progress to say they were screened out.
“In the month of August, I managed to travel across the 5th District, and I met with constituents, business owners, farmers, students,” McGuire said Tuesday. “I managed to make stops and meet people and businesses in all 24 counties, cities and towns across our district.”
Attendance at the town hall has not been publicly disclosed. McGuire’s chief of staff Christopher Hall did not respond to a Daily Progress inquiry regarding how many attended or how the town hall was advertised.
Seemingly the only public announcement was a post made to McGuire’s social media accounts roughly 24 hours ahead of time.
Out and about?
Among the questions McGuire did take on the call was one from a constituent in Charlottesville, where he has been repeatedly asked to host or attend an in-person town hall.
“I’ve been to Charlottesville a million times now. I’ve visited lots of businesses, the hospital, the university, and I’ve got several things coming up on our calendar in Charlottesville,” McGuire told the caller.
McGuire’s schedule, posted to his office’s website, had no upcoming events listed as of Friday.
McGuire, like other Republican representatives in the House, was instructed earlier this year not to host in-person town halls after multiple other members of Congress were heckled during appearances elsewhere.
The congressman has been seen in Charlottesville, though.
In July and August he was spotted in and around the city waving and holding a sign for Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle Sears’ gubernatorial campaign on roadsides.
He has also attended select, and private, events, including a campaign stop with Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, who is running for reelection. At that stop, at a coffeehouse just north of Charlottesville city limits, press was temporarily barred from attending. During another visit to the city, McGuire spoke with employees at S&P Global at its headquarters downtown. Roughly 70 people were in attendance there, but the gathering had not been advertised to the public.
In April, McGuire was invited to a town hall in the city after progressive activists with Indivisible Charlottesville said they had grown frustrated he had not hosted one himself. In McGuire did not attend, and those that did addressed their questions, comments and concerns to a life-size cardboard cutout of the man.
District residents have hosted monthly protests outside of McGuire’s Lynchburg office on a monthly basis since March.
Hall did not respond when The Daily Progress asked if McGuire intended to host any in-person, in-district town halls in the near future.
Challengers
Mike Pruitt, the Democrat, U.S. Navy veteran, attorney and Albemarle County supervisor seeking to unseat McGuire in the 2026 midterm elections, called out McGuire for not speaking directly with his constituents.
“Now we’re on telephone town hall three,” Pruitt said at a gathering to listen in to the telephone town hall at the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library in downtown Charlottesville. “In addition to only giving us 24-hour notice … he’s screening better. There was not really a single hostile question — there was one, maybe.”
Fellow Albemarle County resident and retired U.S. Army office Paul Riley has joined Pruitt in the race to unseat McGuire.
Two Lynchburg Democrats, business owner Kate Zabriskie and family physician Dr. Suzanne Krzyzanowski, are both expected to announce their own campaigns in September.
Pruitt said Tuesday that unlike McGuire he has been meeting with constituents.
“We know from the effort we’ve done traveling this district and gathering people face to face that a lot of people are mad,” Pruitt said. “We have the highest level of wealth inequality that we have seen in America in over 100 years. That is a crisis. That is something that people are mad about. So yes, John, people are mad, and sometimes we have to listen to people who are mad because that’s our job as lawmakers.”
Riley also criticized McGuire’s short time in office in an August op-ed in The Daily Progress.
“McGuire could do so much more for Virginia, but he’s solely focused on serving Trump’s extreme agenda,” he wrote.
David Velazquez (919) 612-7026
david.velazquez@dailyprogress.com
@velazqdave on X
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