Neguse says Democrats need “affirmative, hopeful, optimistic vision” at Steamboat town hall

National politics dominated the agenda as resident’s filled auditorium at Colorado Mountain College to for Neguse’s first stop in Steamboat since the election.

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat from Boulder, listens to Steamboat Springs resident Paula Black ask a question about the potential privatization of the U.S. Postal Service at a town hall meeting in Steamboat on Wednesday. (Dylan Anderson/The Yampa Valley Bugle)

A few questions into U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse’s town hall meeting in Steamboat Springs on Wednesday evening, a woman a few rows up the packed auditorium seating said it seems to her the Democratic Party “may be in disarray a little bit.”

Neguse, who had a favorable crowd in Allbright Auditorium on campus at Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat laughing and applauding throughout the hourlong session, took the question in stride.

“The last town hall I had, someone said, ‘Why can’t the Democrats get their act together?’” Neguse said, portraying an excited tone. “You said it so much more politely.” Laughter ensued.

That upbeat tone continued through the session on Wednesday, as Neguse addressed more than a dozen questions largely revolving around the actions of President Donald Trump’s administration as it approaches 100 days in office. The stop in Steamboat Springs on Wednesday was part of a larger blitz across the Democrat’s vast Second Congressional District, and Neguse rushed off for another meeting in Eagle County later that evening.

Still, Neguse said his party needs to do more than just oppose Trump’s agenda.

“Democrats need to offer an affirmative, hopeful, optimistic vision for what we believe in, and it’s values-based, and what we would like to do on behalf the people that we represent,” Neguse said. “I’m not convinced that we’ve done that, certainly not done it in a way that is rooted in the everyday challenges that most people are facing.”

“We’ve got to be able to offer something more than just the policies that he is pursuing are reckless. I think most Americans, certainly most Coloradans, know that,” Neguse said. “What do we offer as an alternative?”

Asked after the town hall meeting whether he thought he was able to capture a hopeful, optimistic message on Wednesday, Neguse said he hoped so.

“There’s a balance. I think we’ve got to be vigilant about defending our republic as I articulated there,” Neguse said. “Simultaneously, politics is about addition, not subtraction. It’s about making the case to build coalitions for the greater good and so I feel very passionately that you have to do both.”

Seating was filled to the back row of Allbright Auditorium on the Steamboat campus of Colorado Mountain College for a town hall with Rep. Joe Neguse on Wednesday. (Dylan Anderson/The Yampa Valley Bugle)

Local Democrats tended to agree.

“Congressman Neguse just has a way of taking complicated and sensitive topics and making people feel heard and giving them tangible solutions,” said Routt County Commissioner Angelica Salinas, a fellow Democrat. “He acknowledged that fact that the Democratic Party is struggling, but that’s not a reason to lose hope.”

“We as Democrats need to outline a positive agenda across the board,” said Routt County Commissioner Tim Redmond. “We can’t be we’re against Trump. We have to have a message that says what we believe in, what we want to do and where we want to go. And I think we have been pretty miserable at that here lately.”

Neguse said most questions at his recent town hall meetings have revolved around what his is doing to push back against Trump’s policies as well as what they can do as constituents. That theme continued on Wednesday.

“We do have tools at our disposal — legislative tools, oversight tools, legal tools — that we can use to hold the administration accountable,” Neguse said. “While those perhaps didn’t start as quickly as we all would have liked, you now see, I believe, across the board, a comprehensive effort to try to push back.”

While admitting the Democrat’s minority positions in every branch of the federal government, Neguse reminded the audience of the first Trump Administration’s failed efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and the role the public played to impact that outcome. Republicans have so far stuck together to back the President, but Neguse stressed that public opinion could still sway institutions like Congress.

“If only four Republicans join our efforts to oppose for example the reckless tariff policies that are going to decimate our economy… we could end those policies next week,” Neguse said, mentioning a bill he’s sponsored to reign in tariffs that currently lacks Republican support. “We shouldn’t assume that our institutions are impervious to public opinion.”

Neguse had several applause lines throughout, including when he pointed to his work to impeach Trump during the president’s first term. One questioner said she would like to see Trump “out of that office sooner, rather than later,” and pushed the congressman to consider impeachment again. He stopped short of making that commitment, instead pointing to tools available to courts to enforce judicial orders.

“There can be this sort of sense of helplessness or hopelessness… I have to stress to you as vigorously as I can, you got to reject that,” Neguse said, leading into a Martin Luther King Jr. quote from his “I Have a Dream” speech: “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.”

“His admonition to them was, don’t despair, we’ve got work to do, let’s get to doing it,” Neguse said. “I’m going to keep doing my job. … You keep doing yours.”