Witness tells House Administration Committee deliberative town halls can broaden constituent engagement

At a House Administration Committee hearing, Speaker 2 described "deliberative town halls" as a structured way to increase two-way engagement between members of Congress and constituents, saying the approach uses randomized sampling, targeted invitations and follow-up surveys to broaden participation.

Speaker 1 opened the exchange by noting low public trust in Congress but citing a survey finding that "70% of respondents are willing to engage more directly with elected officials on important issues," calling that a positive sign. Speaker 1 asked for a brief explanation of how deliberative town halls might work.

Speaker 2 said the key difference is sampling and outreach: organizers seek a real random sample of the constituency and "affirmatively and personally invite" participants so the event is not dominated by frequent critics. "When the member affirmatively reaches out and says, ‘no. Really, I wanna hear what you had to say. How does Tuesday at 7 sound?’, the citizen says, ‘oh, okay,’" Speaker 2 said, arguing that personal invitation can build fragile trust.

The witness described these events as field experiments with a control group: organizers conduct a baseline survey, run the forum (online, on a secure platform) and then survey participants again, usually about two weeks later, to measure changes in views. Speaker 2 said the design helps capture whether the forum changes participants' opinions and increases engagement.

Accessibility features were emphasized: the platform described by Speaker 2 will support the 14 most spoken languages in the United States, offer oral versions and provide real-time captioning for hearing-impaired participants, an effort Speaker 2 framed as ensuring any enfranchised citizen can take part.

No formal action or vote on adopting deliberative town halls was recorded in the transcript. The exchange concluded with Speaker 1 thanking the witness for his time.