Nebraska Rep Mike Flood Admits He Didn't Read The Bill Before Voting To Kick Millions Off Medicaid

And Then There's Ashley Hinton In Iowa

Before being elected to Congress in 2022, conservative Republican radio station owner Mike Flood had served in Nebraska’s unicameral legislature, including a stint as speaker from 2007-2013. He’s just a knee-jerk Republican who never goes against the grain on anything. He represents the first district, which includes most of eastern Nebraska outside of Omaha and its immediate suburbs. The district includes Nebraska’s other big city, Lincoln, as well as Fremont and Norfolk. The PVI is R+6. Trump won district with 55.8% last year and Flood won it with 60.1% on the same day, taking all 12 of the district’s counties, including blue-leaning Lancaster, which Trump not only lost to Kamala, but had also lost to Biden and Hillary. 

It isn’t a district the DCCC has been thinking about contesting, concentrating whatever Nebraska firepower it has in the Omaha district next door. It would probably take a tsunami rather than just a normal blue wave to dislodge Flood… and they’d have to find a candidate to run against him. That said. Congressman Flood had a lot of unwanted publicity this week, another raucous town hall where he was pilloried by angry constituents. Watch some clips on local TV:

Nikki Ramirez reported on a badly botched defense after the Seward town hall on Tuesday. Flood admitted he hadn’t read the bill before voting on it.

Flood could barely get through a sentence without facing boos and heckling from the audience. At one point, when asked about a provision in the GOP’s massive reconciliation package that would restrict the judiciary’s ability to hold government officials in contempt, Flood said he did not agree with the provision, before admitting that the “provision was unknown to me when I voted for that.”

“I’ve taken an oath as a state senator, I’ve taken an oath as a member of Congress, and I support our court system, and I do believe that the federal district courts when issuing an injunction should have legal effect,” Flood said in response to the question. “In fact, I relied upon that when the Biden administration was in place, the federal courts did a tremendous amount of good work.” 

“This provision was unknown to me when I voted for the bill. OK? Next question, next question,” Flood added of the legislation, which passed through the House last week and is now being considered in the Senate. 

The confession prompted a loud round of jeering from attendees. Flood eventually interjected, telling the crowd that he was “not going to hide the truth.” 

The congressman then stated that he was “going to very clearly tell the people in my conference that we cannot support undermining our court system, and we must allow our federal courts to operate an issue, injunctions.” 

It was the tense peak of an acrimonious event. In another instance, when Flood insisted that he was a true supporter of the Constitution, one audience member shouted “then do it” from the crowd. 

In holding the town hall, Flood actually bucked advice from Republican leadership, who earlier this year advised members of the party to avoid town halls and other confrontations with constituents over the GOP’s unpopular policy initiatives. 

Other Republicans— including Reps. Marjorie Traitor Greene (R-GA) and Mike Lawler (R-NY)—  who have gone forward with public constituent meetings have faced the rage of voters upset over mass firings, public corruption, and the president’s continued defiance of the courts. The “big, beautiful” bill’s proposed cuts to social safety net programs in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthy aren’t very popular, either. 

But Republicans remain steadfast in their commitment to fulfilling Trump’s policy platform, even if it’s unpopular, and even if it kicks millions of Americans off of their health insurance. As his constituents yelled at him, an exasperated Flood complained that he understood “that you can get an applause line when you call me a fascist.”

“But I’m not,” he insisted.

A more natural target for the DCCC’s attention would be Iowa’s 2nd district, in the northeast quarter of the state, which has an R+4 PVI and includes Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Mason City and Dubuque. Trump won the district with 54.3% in 2024 but with just 51.3% in 2020. Incumbent Ashley Hinson outperformed Trump last year with 57.1% against a little-known opponent with no money. Hinson, though, also hosted a town hall yesterday— in Decorah— and was badly booed and jeered. The audience wasn’t buying her canned lies.

The crowd's jeers began during Hinson's prepared remarks at the beginning of the town hall.

"I think it's important to note that when we look at last year, when we look at the election, I think Americans overwhelmingly rejected the status quo for the country. We were seeing an open border, high inflation, we were seeing men and women in Iowa and in our country feel like their voices were not heard," Hinson told the crowd, which booed after she mentioned high inflation.

“The president is, I believe, fighting for you and fighting for me," Hinson added. The crowd responded with jeers and people shouting "No!"

… Hinson told the crowd that she was "proud" to vote for the sweeping Trump agenda bill— dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill”—  in the House last week, which seeks to extend the president's 2017 tax cuts, beef up spending for the military and border security, eliminate taxes on tips and overtime work and slash funding for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

After touting her vote for the legislation, Hinson was met with major boos and jeers, forcing her to pause her speech.

"This is your time,” she told the crowd in response to their boos, adding, “I’m here to clean up lots of the misinformation out there today."

The crowd laughed as she responded to their negative reactions.

Multiple times during the question and answer portion of the town hall, the crowd booed or laughed when the congresswoman mentioned her support for Trump.

One question in particular riled up the crowd, when a constituent asked about "corruption in Washington," specifically citing the Trump administration's decision to accept a luxury jet as a gift from Qatar and Trump's decision to host a dinner for those who spent millions of dollars on his meme coin.

Attendees cheered while the man asked his question, including his insinuation that, “There’s lots of reasons why somebody like you might be silent. You might be scared to say something. You might actually like to see the corruption... or you might not care about it."

"Can you help me understand why you are silent about this corruption?" he added.

“I think it’s really unfair to imply that I like to see corruption in Washington D.C.," Hinson answered while the crowd clamored.

“I’m here answering your questions in public because I care about transparency and accountability and doing things the right way, she added, later telling the man who asked the question, “I’m answering your question. You may not like my answer and that’s your right to not like my answer."

Several members of the crowd also shouted that Hinson was a "fraud" later in the town hall, after a man asking a question accused the president and his cabinet of "breaking laws by ignoring federal judge's orders."

“When are you going to do the responsibility that you were elected for by holding the executive branch accountable up to and including impeachment?” the man asked Hinson.

"Judges need to follow the law. I don't think this country needs another impeachment charade," Hinson answered, to which the crowd shouted, "No."

As she alleged "egregious abuses" by several federal judges who have paused or halted certain presidential executive actions and pledged to work with presidents of either party to achieve common goals, members of the crowd clamored and shouted, "You are a fraud."