U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, a Democrat from Illinois’ 6th District, on Sunday, April 13 hosted a town hall meeting at John A. Logan College in Carterville, allowing constituents to engage with the elected official and address pressing issues affecting not just their district, but also the nation as a whole. The event offered an opportunity for residents to voice their concerns and learn more about the legislative process.
Leslie Freels-Lloyd of Murphysboro said, “I thought he did a good job of explaining how Congress works. The average person may not understand what the House of Representatives or the Senate does and how they work collectively. He also explained the difference between the rule of law and legal activity, and made it clear. So I found that very helpful.”
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She added that the event was important for the district.
“I think it was more than beneficial…the 12th Congressional District is very hungry and thirsty to interact with any representative that will listen to us, because we don’t have anybody. This is the first live town hall we’ve had in years…We need to find somebody like him in this area.”
Several attendees expressed frustration with their own elected representative, U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, a Republican from Murphysboro who represents the 12th District. During the Q&A portion of the town hall, constituents spoke about a lack of accessibility, noting difficulty in contacting his office and engaging in meaningful dialogue with their elected representative—even among those with similar political views.
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Bost has shifted to holding telephone town halls more recently, and many constituents expressed frustration with the change, arguing that the phone format limits transparency and accountability, and even supporters have reported difficulty reaching his office or getting responses.
Some residents have said that during these telephone town halls, they were either unable to get through or had their calls go unanswered, leaving them feeling disconnected from their representative.
The frustration surrounding Bost’s inaccessibility became especially evident during the meeting when a constituent, donning a red MAGA hat and a shirt reflecting her support of Trump, said, “Let me tell you, first of all, those people who are trying to get hold of Mike Bost, tell me someone who has been able to get hold of him, it just doesn’t exist.”
Casten himself acknowledged this struggle, noting that even voters in districts that align more conservatively were experiencing similar barriers. “Particularly, going to people who have districts that have not had, you know, as we heard…the woman in full MAGA regalia who couldn’t speak with Bost either, forget about who you’re voting for, those people need to understand what’s going on in Washington just as well as my constituents do,” Casten said.
Casten also shared insights about the challenges of representing rural America and the disconnect that exists between different regions of the country.
“The thing that’s going to stick with me coming back is…there’s just not a lot of electoral logic for Democrats to come down to this part of the state and it doesn’t matter that they’re Democrats, right? It’s just like, if we’re, if we’re going to vote on things that affect every American, we shouldn’t… we shouldn’t have to only depend on, you know, people like Gabe Vasquez, who’s a Democrat, who represents rural New Mexico, you know, to tell us what life is like in rural America,” Casten said.
Freels-Lloyd also emphasized the importance of civic engagement.
“I would add anyone of any political persuasion to please attend any town hall you can, because we’re all Americans, and Americans need to unite,” she said
Judy Ashby from Carbondale, who founded the Positive Action Committee and has been working to organize protests in the local area about the actions of Bost, echoed similar sentiments. She praised Casten for staying focused and answering questions effectively.
“I thought he answered everybody’s questions quite well, and because he stayed on task. He answered theirs, their pleasure. They explained it really well and tried very hard to avoid letting his own personal opinions get in the way,” Ashby said.
Not all attendees were satisfied with the political system as a whole. Lee Ann Casey, a Carbondale resident, expressed frustration with empty political promises.
“That’s one of the things that just makes me sick, is all the platitudes, no real answers to anything from the media or the government,” she said.
Despite this, Casey acknowledged Casten’s willingness to engage with his constituents. “He’s a member of Congress that was at least listening to people, period. I mean, we have no sway on if he gets reelected, but he is coming down and listening to us.”
The discussion turned to broader issues of fear and insecurity in America.
Casey said, “I’m glad that he admitted that there are a lot of people that are afraid of losing their family, their livelihood, but we can’t let that fear conquer.
During the town hall, Casten spoke about rising authoritarianism and the role citizens play in either enabling or resisting it.
“The way that fascism succeeds is you tell people that all of your problems are caused by something that only I can solve,” Casten said. “What makes fascism work is that people respond to that with cowardice.”
He urged attendees not to let fear or complacency silence them.
“Look around at how many people in our society right now are saying, ‘I would like to stand up. I have too much to lose,’” he said.
Casten often spoke about the importance of democracy and the role of citizens in shaping the country’s future. Reflecting on his political journey, he shared a story that influenced his decision to enter public service.
“We sold our company in 2016, and I had been asked to go in by the people we sold the company to. They said, can you go meet with your local representative, because there’s just a whole bunch of rules that are making it harder for people like us who are trying to start small businesses,” Casten recalled. “I sat down, started making the case, and at some point, my representative at the time stood up, looked at his watch, and said, ‘Yeah, this meeting’s over.’ And he walked out. I went home, and I said to my wife, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do next, but he’s going to be unemployed by the time I figure out what I’m doing next.”
Casten spoke about the significance of the work being done in Congress.
“What really struck me early on is that if we don’t, as members of Congress, go out and be present, especially on the hardest issues of the day, then we don’t believe in democracy,” he said.
While discussing his experiences, Casten also addressed crucial issues such as inflation, impeachment, and crime.
“We’ve done 87 or so [town halls] now,” he said. “We’ve always done them, especially on the hardest issues. The first Trump impeachment, we did a town hall on impeachment. There were a lot of people there who did not agree that we should impeach the president, but one of my proudest moments was at the end, a guy came up with a MAGA hat on, and he said, ‘I don’t agree with you, but I want to thank you for giving us a civics lesson, because we all think we understand what the impeachment process is, but you need to understand how that works.’”
Education was another key topic during the town hall, with Casten emphasizing its vital role in the future of the country.
“Education has always been a political idea,” Casten said, quoting civil rights activist James Baldwin. “The purpose of education is to teach people how to ask questions of themselves. What is up? What is down? What is black? What is white?”
Despite challenges facing public education, including orders that aim to eliminate the Department of Education, Casten remains a staunch advocate for it.
“We started to see a lot of those countries, like Korea, like Japan, like the Scandinavian countries, start to move ahead of us on a lot of those tables of education levels,” Casten said, explaining how their distribution of government funding has created more options for schooling with more resources. “And so we should now do what they do.”
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