The Small Hall at the Events Complex lived up to its name with a standing room audience for the Town Hall meeting hosted by Congresswoman Harriet Hageman. About 300 people crowded into the room Saturday afternoon to hear Wyoming’s lone member of Congress address issues of the day.

It appeared to be a mostly friendly crowd with a substantial number of dissidents and protesters, complete with protest signs. Hageman attempted to quiet the crowd on numerous occasions during the nearly hour long meeting. Throughout, cheers were met with jeers and much of the time it was hard to know which were louder. As efforts to quiet the crowd were unsuccessful, Hageman invited the Wyoming Democratic Party chairman to the podium. Joe Barbuto, of Rock Springs, joined the Republican Congresswoman at the front of the hall.

Hageman asked Barbuto to ask the crowd to show her the same respect that she would give them. Barbuto responded by saying the miscalculation you are making here is that the people upset here are only Democrats. That’s not true. He went on to say we don’t need the rhetoric, we don’t need the nonsense. We need the issues and a chance to ask questions. A video of the exchange is posted at the bottom of this article.

When the Hageman took questions from the audience the crowd became raucous again. The Congresswoman cautioned the gathering saying, “If you can’t let me answer, you yell at me, I won’t take the question.” At one point, obviously feeling some frustration, she told the crowd, “You have to shut up.”

During the afternoon she addressed the Postal Service and mail delivery in Wyoming, that she voted to abolish the Department of Education, and mentioned the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE. At the mention of DOGE, there was a loud protest to the the agency and Elon Musk. In response to the jeers , Hageman said there is a website anyone can go to and see what they are doing. And she added, “whether you believe it is up to you.”

She said she was working with local officials to rework the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan of the BLM. She also said Wyoming is on the forefront of a huge boom because of the state’s natural resources……coal, trona, oil and natural gas. She predicted a resurgence for Sweetwater County and northeast Wyoming because of minerals.

The town hall meeting in Rock Springs continues Hageman’s commitment to meet with voters in every county of the state.