Local leaders and elected officials host town hall in Duluth

On Saturday afternoon, at the Myers-Wilkins Auditorium in Duluth East High School, over 700 community members gathered together for a town hall full of conversation.

“I stood every day and pledged allegiance to a flag that stands for liberty and justice for all, not just for rich people,” said Laura, a lifelong Duluth resident.

The town hall was put together by organization Practicing Democracy and was aimed at giving citizens a chance to speak out on political topics, no matter their political affiliations. The topic of the discussion centered around how recent federal cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency are impacting the Northland.

“We want to be open and welcome to everybody, and everybody’s story matters. And we want to listen to their stories. We want it just to be a welcoming space where we have civil dialogue and sharing stories is the most powerful way to educate people and somehow to maybe change their mind about what our future of this country looks like,” said Jen Schultz, former Minnesota State Representative and co-leader of Practicing Democracy.

After local leaders introduced themselves and spoke about how they are working to combat federal cuts, constituents were given the opportunity to speak up and tell their stories.

“We heard a lot of stories from veterans, from people working in the healthcare field, from people who identify as LGBTQ+. They’re frightened and they’re fearful of what’s happening. We heard from people who are more to this country and what this country means to them and what they came here for freedom and democracy and justice. And they’re worried and they’re sad that that could be weakened and they’re worried. And that’s why they showed up to listen to others but to share their story,” said Schultz.

Citizens of all ages took to the microphone to voice their concerns and opened their minds to others who did the same.

“If you throw a boomerang out, it’s going to come back to you. If they’re throwing hate at us, let us not do that to them,” said a woman in the audience.

“It may seem like you are small. It may seem like there’s so much going on and that’s just not true. You are not small,” said a sixteen-year-old student from Duluth.

Practicing Democracy plans to hold more town halls throughout the Northland in the future, click here for more information.

Representative Pete Stauber was invited to the town hall meeting but was not in attendance. We have reached out to Stauber’s team for further information.