Dueling protests greet Alabama congressman Barry Moore as town hall debates intensify

Laura Pfizenmayer, holding a handmade sign that read “Hands off our social security,” walked over to a group of supporters of President Donald Trump and Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, and began to let them know how she felt about the administration.

“Trump is killing Social Security,” Pfizenmayer said to the group.

One of the Trump and Moore supporters shouted back, “Excuse me, but you’re not on the right side.”

“Oh, I know I’m on the right side,” Pfizenmayer responded. “I’m on God’s side.”

“Oh please,” groaned members of the group backing Trump.

The verbal exchange continued.

“You have no clue,” people on the pro-Trump side said. “Trump is saving Social Security. He’s getting the fraud out.”

That elicited laughter from the Democratic side. The pro-Trump side shouted back, “Stop listening to CNN.”

The moment outside the Foley Civic Center on Thursday was a microcosm into the nation’s widening political divide. It played out over the course of about an hour ahead of Moore arriving for a speech delivered before the South Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce.

The Baldwin County Democratic Party, which had been planning for the rally on social media, was met with a counter rally by the Baldwin GOP. The two sides remained separate from each other and rarely intermingled.

Chants and shouting ensued. There were a few brief encounters including the one in which Pfizenmayer approached the Republicans. However, there were no overly heated moments and far from any violence involving either side. A strong police presence was visible outside the Civic Center.

‘Show your face’

It was a rare public demonstration in Alabama involving the two political parties at the same setting. The encounter came as public town halls have largely vanished from Republican calendars across the country, following a wave of heated and even chaotic moments in recent months.

“Show your face,” the Baldwin County Democrats chanted, directing their anger at Moore. “Back door Moore.”

Moore, who didn’t speak to the protestors when he arrived at the Civic Center, said after the event that he doesn’t have a problem hosting town hall events. He also said his congressional office was never informed by GOP leadership to avoid hosting public events while Republicans face backlash at town hall gatherings nationwide.

“If they are telling us to hold off, it’s not been given to our office,” Moore said, adding he was unsurprised there would be protestors greeting his arrival. “It’s going on all over the country where members are traveling, and they are getting harassed. It’s about the left getting the narrative rather than getting the issues resolved.”

Moore said being accessible to constituents in his 1st Congressional District is something important to him, adding that he held 14 town hall events within a few weeks in 2021. But he said the current demand for town halls was coming from “the left” and that it wasn’t about addressing issues.

“A lot of times they want media coverage to bash President Trump,” Moore said. “I’m happy to have dialogue with them on the issues itself. Free speech is one thing. Abusive speech is another. We’ll do town halls in the future. We’ll be out there and accessible.”

Political divide

For the Baldwin County Democrats, who organized the rally, the lack of congressional appearances is frustrating.

“Barry Moore is our congressional representative in District 1, and we have reached a tipping point where we are willing to come out on the streets and say ‘No’ to the Trump dictatorial regime,” said Robyn Monaghan, chair of the Baldwin County Democratic Party, who organized the rally.

On the Republican side, Baldwin County GOP chair Kathy Moreland said her group learned about the Democrats gathering outside the Civic Center and decided to also show up and express support for Trump and Moore.

“The Republicans are very strong in Baldwin County,” she said. “We have a good following. Baldwin votes Republican. We still wanted to come out today to say we have a strong party here and will continue to keep it strong.”

Indeed, Baldwin County has long been a Republican stronghold. Monaghan said the party has 2,100 members, and is becoming “more and more active.” She also vowed that the party will be fielding candidates for municipal races this summer, and in the statewide contests in 2026.

“We are actively doing Democratic politics in Baldwin County,” she said.

Atmore resident Bridgette Houck, a member of the Escambia County GOP’s executive committee; and Nikki Rye, a Gulf Shores resident whose company sells Trump memorabilia, said they were concerned over what were inaccuracies spread by the Democrats about Trump.

“I’m making sure that the opposing side knows and understands that Trump stands for good and not evil and everything he does is for the right reason,” Houck said.

Rye said there was no outrage against President Bill Clinton for cutting the federal workforce by over 300,000 jobs in the 1990s. Clinton’s job cuts in the 90s was done so with mostly bipartisan support, unlike the polarized approach toward federal cuts since Trump was sworn into office in January.

“Are they cutting back things? Yes,” Rye said. “But every time a new administration comes in, it’s the same thing. When Clinton killed 300,000 jobs, where was the outrage then?”

Paul Cleverdon of Foley, who rallied with the Baldwin County Democrats, said the federal job cuts have personally affected him since he retired after 36 years with the National Security Agency. He said he has had problems receiving retirement funds, and that those he’s contacted at the agency for assistance, “are about to be fired.”

“My older friends who are close to retirement are being offered an early out and they will have to go,” said Cleverdon, a former Republican voter who switched to the Democrats during the Trump era.

“John McCain died and that pretty much ended the real Republican Party,” Cleverdon said, referring to the late Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee who died in 2018.

The Democratic rally lasted a little bit longer than the Republicans. But both sides left before Moore’s speech ended inside the Civic Center.

The congressman touched on issues like tariffs and continued to introduce himself to Baldwin County residents. Moore, who won the redrawn congressional district in November and took office in January, is representing Baldwin County for the first time.

Moore said there will be “bumps in the road” over Trump’s policies, but that the “things we are trying to fix didn’t get that way overnight.”

“There will be fear mongering,” he said. “There always is. The president wrote, ‘Art of the Deal,’ and you got I don’t know how many countries camped out across the White House now in hotels wanting to meet with the president to negotiate the tariffs that are fair trade. So that is what we’ll do.”