Senator Tom Cotton Receives a Tough Crowd

Christian Cruz

Arkansas senator Tom Cotton came home to Arkansas Wednesday night for a town hall and received a great deal of vocal criticism from the crowd of 2,000. He was bombarded with questions about Obamacare, the border wall, and even questions of President Trump’s tax returns. Chants of “do your job” erupted at times throughout the event and it was probably not the type of reception Senator Cotton had expected when returning to his home state. At one point, someone asked everyone who had been positively affected by Obamacare to stand up, to which hundreds of people rose from their seats. A woman by the name of Kati McFarland asked the senator a question over his support of repealing Obamacare, and to the surprise of nobody, he glossed over the question and attempted to move on, but the defiant crowd was having none of it and erupted in support of McFarland. Another woman made the statement “I’m from Fayetteville, and I’m not a paid protester” before asking her question, referring to remarks President Trump and other politicians have made that many protesters are paid to be there. People continued to ask questions and Cotton extended the event an additional 30 minutes. A question that received a big reaction from that crowd was that of a man who asked: “If we’re so concerned about deficits, why are we paying for this wall?” A pastor asked about refugee resettlement, questions over Russian interference with the 2016 election were also asked, and a 7-year-old boy asked about why we as a country are alienating Mexicans. Senator Cotton maintained his composure throughout the town hall, but he did not fully answer questions or simply avoided others.