Scott Perry isn’t holding town halls. His constituents did one anyway, aiming ire at Trump, Musk

Hundreds of Scott Perry’s constituents packed a Perry-less town hall to vent their frustrations with President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Perry hasn’t held an in-person town hall since 2019.

Hundreds of Congressman Scott Perry’s (R-York) constituents crammed into AFSCME Council 13’s union hall just outside of Harrisburg on Wednesday for a town hall event, but there was one problem.

Perry wasn’t in attendance. 

In fact, it’s been more than 2,000 days since Perry faced his constituents at an in-person town hall setting. The last town hall he held occurred in Hummelstown on July 30, 2019.

The anger that people are experiencing since Trump took office for a second term remains palpable.

Sue Gordon, a Harrisburg area resident, expressed her anger and disbelief at Musk and the Trump administration for unjustly firing her son, who was an employee for the US Department of Education. 

“My son worked for the Department of Education. He got axed. Opened up the computer, guess what? You’re gone,” Gordon said about her son’s firing. 

“ Let me tell you what he did for the Department of Education. He reviewed contracts. He saved everybody in here thousands of tax dollars and his evaluation was the top. Then I turned on the TV the next day and there is Trump, saying they were scum, no good people.”

Gordon, dismayed by her son’s firing, started asking “where’s Scott Perry,” which then broke into a chant filling up the cramped union hall. 

The town hall was put together by Working Families Power, which is closely aligned to the progressive Working Families Party, as well as Planned Parenthood and a number of unions that include the Pennsylvania State Education Association, AFSCME, SEIU and AFGE.

Ward Miller, a Carlisle resident, was one former government employee in attendance who has had his life turned upside down by Musk and Trump. 

Miller, 60, spent more than half of his life working for USAID, which bolsters American diplomacy and power around the world through foreign civilian aid and development assistance.

“ Up until a couple of weeks ago, I was a proud employee of USAID. My contract was terminated, and it was really not the way I expected to end 32 years of public service,” Miller said in an interview. 

Ward explained that he spent most of his career helping countries respond to disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, war or famine. 

“People are dying internationally because of the lack of the services that we provide in Africa. I mean children are literally starving to death as we stand here and talk,” Ward said.