Western Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Deluzio told voters in his 17th District Thursday that the fate of working families and democracy itself were on the line — and that Democrats would do whatever they could to protect them.
“We are not in normal times in Washington. I think many of you probably know that,” Deluzio told a “town hall” gathering of voters in Kennedy Township. “I think we are in a moment of great risk to this country. I think that we have seen pretty brazen attacks on the rule of law. And these are not small, simple, partisan disputes. I think a lot of this goes to the heart of what our Constitution means.”
Deluzio’s constituents seemed grateful for the chance to be heard, but expressed trepidation about the Trump administration’s agenda — and Democrats’ inability to stop it, or even to mount an effective counterattack.
“How do we know, or how can you guarantee, that we are even going to have a fair election in '26?” one voter asked.
“When [Trump] refuses to follow court orders, what recourse do we have?” asked another.
“What specific actions can we do to influence, for example, our Democratic state Senator … on this budget bill?” asked a Fox Chapel voter.
That was an apparent reference to Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, who pledged to support a Republican spending plan that many Democrats fear will lead to cuts in programs like Medicare — and to continued unilateral spending and job cuts by Trump and his lieutenant, Elon Musk.
But while Fetterman has become a lightning rod within his party for such moves, Deluzio has not attracted that kind of friendly fire. Like almost every other Democrat in the House, he opposed the Republican spending plan and has been unsparing in his criticism of Trump. And on Thursday, he said his colleagues were in the trenches with him.
“That budget proposal? Those cuts you're talking about, it was taking away that healthcare, targeting those cuts to plunder our government, right? To funnel … trillions in tax giveaways for the ultra rich,” he said. “I oppose that, I vote against it. We are talking about it constantly. We rallied downtown Pittsburgh a week or two ago. You have colleagues sending letters, giving floor speeches, all the things that we have to do and more to stop this from happening.”
He sought to localize those concerns, noting that Musk and Trump appear poised to cut some 80,000 jobs from the Department of Veterans Affairs. “You ask people in this district of Western Pennsylvania, Republicans and Democrats, they expect us to pay for the cost of war, and that is treating veterans when they come home,” he said. “You are not gonna deliver veterans care if you fire 80,000 VA workers.”
And he trained his fire on Musk in particular, accusing him of “inserting himself into all parts of our government, making decisions that serve his interests” as someone with large government contracts.
“I think about a president selling [Musk’s] cars on the White House driveway the other day,” Deluzio said — an invocation of Trump’s display of Tesla automobiles outside the executive’s mansion earlier this week.
That image elicited boos and groans from the audience, who cheered Deluzio’s own pledge to continue his fight.
For the most part, he avoided the kind of fireworks that other federal lawmakers — Republicans especially — have encountered in town halls back in their districts. Much like his Western Pennsylvania counterpart Summer Lee, who has a town hall of her own scheduled next week, Deluzio has been staunch in opposing the Trump agenda. And some town hall attendees thanked him for holding it.
He didn’t emerge totally unscathed, however. One Coraopolis resident told Deluzio that he was “starting to get angry with you” for a “superficial” answer to an earlier question about protecting Social Security.
“I need you to tell us what you and your committee are doing to protect it,” he said. “My mother's living on it. We've got to get it together. What are you doing?”
“The answer to your question is everything that we possibly can,” said Deluzio. He said he’d drafted bills and given speeches on the issue, held rallies and spoken to the press. “I need courage from other members of Congress to do the same thing.”
But Deluzio allowed that the times were uncertain. “I think that our democracy will hold. I think that there are plenty of us who are willing to uphold our oaths and hold the line for our democracy,” he said. Still, he said, “Those attacks on the constitutional order are very real.”
