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Townhall: Labrador cheered, booed

Attendees hold up green paper in solidarity with a speaker who asked a question during a town hall at Meridian Middle School in Meridian, Idaho, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Idaho's Republican U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador is holding a town hall, the first of the state's congressional delegation to do so since the November election. (Kyle Green / Idaho Statesman via AP)
Attendees hold up green paper in solidarity with a speaker who asked a question during a town hall at Meridian Middle School in Meridian, Idaho, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Idaho's Republican U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador is holding a town hall, the first of the state's congressional delegation to do so since the November election. (Kyle Green / Idaho Statesman via AP)

MERIDIAN, IDAHO – Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador fielded an array of questions along with cheers, boos, applause and shouts at a lively town hall meeting Wednesday night, which drew close to 700 people.

When a questioner told Labrador he appreciated the congressman holding the meeting and that it didn’t look like much fun, Labrador said, “I actually like it – I’m used to getting booed. I get it at home all the time.” That drew a laugh.

It was Labrador’s first town hall meeting of the year; he said he hopes to hold one in North Idaho in the coming weeks. The Freedom Caucus co-founder and four-term congressman has been at the center of some of the big fights in the U.S. House, and also is pondering a possible run for governor of Idaho in 2018.

At one point about an hour into the meeting, after an extended exchange between Labrador and a questioner who called for him to back investigations of President Trump, the crowd began chanting, “Do your job, do your job!”/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise. More here.

DFO: Gotta give Labrador his do. He faced a raucous townhall crowd when many other Republicans avoid them.



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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