Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., who represents the 6th Virginia Congressional District, held a much-anticipated town hall at the Rockbridge County Courthouse for residents of Lexington city. This town hall, held on Thursday, Sept. 25, marked Cline’s fourth town hall in Lexington since his election to Congress in 2018 and his first since 2023.
Cline said he was holding this town hall as a response to the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and that he wanted to promote the free exercise of First Amendment rights by giving both himself and his constituents a platform to speak.
The town hall lasted an hour and six minutes, and was divided into two sections. The first half of the town hall consisted of Cline delivering a presentation highlighting his work in Congress, such as securing funding for Interstate 81, introducing the Don’t Sell My DNA Act and seeking to remove the $200 tax stamp on firearm suppressor purchases.
He highlighted his membership in the House Problem Solvers Caucus, whose goal is to foster bipartisan cooperation on key policy issues. He also spoke about being co-chair of the Songwriters Caucus, which supports legislation protecting intellectual property rights for artists. The presentation also included 24 slides on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in July, and much of the latter portion of the presentation was cut short due to time constraints.
During his presentation, several audience members audibly objected to various claims he made. Others complained about the length of the presentation, with one attendee saying, “You already gave us a physical copy of your presentation. We can read it ourselves.”
After his presentation, Cline opened the floor for questions. Attendees were randomly selected, and only those who had filled out and submitted a question card before the event were able to ask a question to the congressman. Some attendees expressed frustration at not being chosen to ask their question.
The second half saw questions ranging from his opinions on President Donald Trump’s remarks on the Democratic Party, Tylenol and Jimmy Kimmel, to questions about Israel, health care, green energy and the job market for young people. Fewer than one-third of attendees were able to ask a question to the congressman.
While 67 Lexington residents were admitted to the town hall, only 35 people attended. In addition to the people inside the town hall, there were also numerous protestors outside of it. Of the numerous protesters, most said they lived in Rockbridge County or other parts of Cline’s district rather than in Lexington.
Some protesters pushed back against Cline’s claim that “everyone from Lexington who asked to come was able to come.” They argued that his use of Eventbrite and manual approval of attendees was unfair. However, records show Cline has used this ticketing format of limiting entry to local residents for years.
Cline’s office live streamed the town hall on Facebook, where it had nearly 7,000 views at the time of publication. After the town hall, Cline thanked residents for attending and specifically thanked the Ring-tum Phi for being in attendance.
