July 01, 2017
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey will take to TVs once again to participate in a town hall with the state's constituents.
ABC27, an ABC news affiliate based in Harrisburg, will host the event on Wednesday from 7-8 p.m., the station announced Friday.
The station will broadcast the event to viewers in Altoona, Wilkes-Barre and Erie, but will also stream the event live on its website, abc27.com. ABC27 will be accepting questions through social media to ask Toomey as well.
Interested in attending? ABC27 said that its audience will be by "invitation only." Admittance into Democratic Sen. Bob Casey's televised town hall with the station in April was also by invitation, according to PennLive.
Toomey has taken some heat earlier this year for not hosting an in-person town hall despite calls, emails and demonstrations from constituents.
Groups also organized a "with or without you" town hall for the senator in Philadelphia back in June.
Though, Toomey has responded with "tele-town halls" in February and April.
The Republican senator addressed the issue during a radio interview on the "Mike Pintek Show" out of Pittsburgh in March.
"What's important is for me to be hearing from my constituents, responding ..." he said. "We do everything we can to have as much dialogue as we can. We read and respond to tens of thousands of emails and letters every single week. ... We'll get to a town hall at some point, but the important thing from my point of view is to be engaged with your constituents."
While it's unclear what will be discussed during next week's event, Toomey has been vocal about a GOP-led health care plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delayed a vote on the Senate health care bill last week while lawmakers work to get enough votes for the bill to pass.
