Congressman Clay Higgins opened a Crowley town hall Thursday with a call for Americans to respect one another despite political disagreements.
The meeting did not stay that way for long.
Questions about glyphosate, environmental regulations, SpaceX and the Epstein files led to heated exchanges, including one in which Higgins told a constituent he would personally carry him out of the building.
Donning a T-shirt featuring himself alongside President Trump with the caption “WINNING,” Higgins told the crowd that political disagreements need not prevent Americans from respecting one another.
One of the first contentious exchanges centered on glyphosate, a widely used herbicide.
“I don’t think America hates itself. We’re going through an era of disagreement,” he said. “So what? We can respect each other and I think most of us do.”
A Trump-ordered executive action earlier this year granted limited legal immunity to glyphosate manufacturers and labeled them as essential for national security. Higgins said he has personal concerns about glyphosate but does not believe the federal government should prohibit its use.
“American crops are the most heavily regulated crops in the world,” Higgins said. “I don’t think you’ll find a farmer here who’s ok with taking away glyphosate.”
Higgins repeatedly argued that government regulation and intervention should be limited, expressing support for abolishing the Department of Education and saying that, in his view, the decline of American public schools began with federally mandated school desegregation through busing in the 1970s.
Higgins returned to his anti-intervention stance during an exchange on the suspension of multiple state-level environmental regulations ahead of speculation about a possible SpaceX facility in Vermilion Parish.
“The governor has every right to rescind unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles,” he told the crowd. “Elon loves h. He’s quite an ecologically concerned man. There’s no way he or I are going to allow something ecologically damaging to move forward.”
The Epstein Files Transparency Act
Higgins was the lone vote against the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed the House of Representatives last fall by a vote of 427-1.
“Congress overrode 200 years of criminal justice procedure. It’s my job to support the rights of the 800 or so victims who didn’t agree to have their name unredacted,” Higgins said in response to a constituent’s question about why he voted against the widely popular measure. “I was the lone congressman with the conviction to vote his conscience. Many congressmen told me afterward they wished they had voted with me.”
However when pressed, Higgins declined to name any such members of Congress, saying that it was up to them whether they would ever indicate that view.
The town hall was also attended by one of five candidates challenging Higgins in the November election, Democratic candidate John Day, who questioned Higgins about whether there were any issues that would prompt Higgins to break from President Trump.
When Day asked whether there were issues that would prompt Higgins to break with Trump, Higgins said personal conviction guides his political decisions.
Although Day is challenging Higgins in November, Higgins said he viewed him at the town hall as a constituent rather than a political opponent.
“This man is not my opponent today. He is my constituent,” Higgins said.
Day, after the event, explained why he believes the district needs a change.
“We’re having meetings just like this across all 435 districts. People right now really want to know what’s going on in Washington and what the people who are there right now are doing to fix our problems,” Day said. “We’ve got things like carbon capture sequestration, data centers and now a new SpaceX facility that brings with it all sorts of concerns. Those aren’t partisan concerns. I’m someone who wants to fight for people of all backgrounds.”
Day also said Higgins had expressed privately that he would be willing to hold a public debate later in the campaign. It is unclear if the other four qualified candidates in the race would be invited to such a forum.