YOUNGSTOWN — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the failed 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, is hosting a Monday town hall meeting in Youngstown as part of his tour of Republican congressional districts in response to GOP House members not holding such events.

Youngstown is the most populous city in the 11-county 6th Congressional District, which is represented by Michael Rulli, a Salem Republican since June and considered a safe GOP district. Rulli won the November general election by 33.4% over Democrat Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown.

Rulli hasn’t held a public meeting in the district.

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Anderson said Walz’s appearance “brings attention to the fact that Rulli is a coward and will do what his party tells him to do. Rulli has refused to meet with his constituents.”

Rulli had a March 19 fundraiser in Boardman with more than 100 people protesting outside the event.

Rulli said: “Beginning in March, a coordinated campaign was launched to pressure Republicans with aggressive, threatening and disrespectful calls, mostly from non-constituents, to host satellite DNC (Democratic National Committee) rallies in their district, inappropriately dubbed ‘town halls.’ This effort is being funded by left-wing organizations and amplified by the failed Democratic Party infrastructure in a dishonest attempt to stage a grassroots movement.”

Rulli said reporters “misrepresenting my accessibility to constituents and questioning the work I’ve done to represent them … refuse to acknowledge the inorganic nature of these protests and choose to misconstrue activist propaganda as authentic civil concern.”

To reserve free tickets for Walz’s event Monday, go to ohiodems.org/townhall. The location in Youngstown will be provided 24 hours before the event.

Walz will be in Lorain on Tuesday. The city is represented by U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green.

Mahoning County Republican Party Chairman Tom McCabe said that after the 2024 election, Walz “is pretty much irrelevant. Voters rejected him and Kamala Harris and their policies. I don’t know why people would go to see him speak. People, including Democrats, say he was a mistake on the ticket.”

In the November election, the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance beat Harris-Walz by 9.4%. Trump-Vance won Ohio by 11.2% on their way to capturing the White House.

McCabe said he was unsure if Republicans would protest outside the Walz town hall in response to the protest outside the Rulli fundraiser.

“I don’t know, but why give them oxygen as he’s irrelevant and that ticket was rejected in the Mahoning Valley and all over the country?” McCabe said. “He should stay in Minnesota.”

Despite the results of the 2024 election, Anderson said Walz is a good fit for the Mahoning Valley.

“He’s the governor of a Midwest state speaking in another Midwest state in a swing county,” Anderson said.

Anderson said he doesn’t believe Walz’s appearance will lead to Rulli holding public meetings.

“I’ve given up on Mike Rulli during the right thing since he was in the General Assembly,” Anderson said.

Citing articles from right-wing media outlets, Rulli said MoveOn, “a left-wing organization funded by George Soros and other billionaires from around the country, is spending millions to coordinate a ‘town-hall’ campaign with the express purpose of flooding community centers with out-of-state protestors intent on causing chaos and drowning out the voices of hard-working Americans. I will not allow these paid protestors to make a mockery of the democratic process and intimidate my constituents who voted overwhelmingly in support of President Trump’s agenda.”

Rulli said during the first three months of this year, he’s spoken with thousands of constituents; toured dozens of facilities including factories, health care centers and universities; sponsored legislation to protect Social Security, expand rural access to health care and broadband connectivity and “enact President (Donald) Trump’s America First agenda;” and conducted more than 50 media interviews.

Janet Cobb of Salem, who helped organize the March 19 protest and others against the Trump administration, said the protestors at those events live in Rulli’s district and no one is getting paid.

Cobb said she uses the website of Indivisible, a liberal organization, to post information about rallies in the area and to find out about them and no one is getting paid.

Cobb said she found out who Soros was about a month ago after doing a Google search.

“He’s not giving me any money,” she said.

Kripchak, who was at the March 19 protest, said that event, and others against Rulli in the congressional district, are organized by local people.

“Everything happens from the local people,” Kripchak said. “I know the majority of people. Everything (Rulli) claims is the same BS diatribe we hear from other Republicans. It’s all junk and trash.”

It was reported a month ago that U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told GOP House members to stop holding in-person town halls because of backlash over cuts from the Trump administration.

In response, Waltz posted on X, formerly Twitter, “That’s a shame. If your Republican representative won’t meet with you because their agenda is unpopular, maybe a Democrat will. Hell, maybe I will. If your congressman refuses to meet, I’ll come host an event in their district to help local Democrats beat ’em.”

Since then, Walz has held town halls in Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, Wisconsin and in his home state of Minnesota.