{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sensenbrenner.house.gov/2017/12/these-lawmakers-held-the-most-town-halls-in-2017", "These Lawmakers Held the Most Town Halls in 2017", "2017-12-11", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "WI", "F. Sensenbrenner", "S000244", "sensenbrenner.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "by Jonathan Miller of CQ\r\nIn the early months of 2017, a good deal of attention was paid to members of Congress who seemed to be skipping out on town halls for fear of mobs of angry constituents.\r\n\n\r\n\u00a0\r\n\r\nAround that time, the Town Hall Project was born. It evolved from a Google spreadsheet to a searchable online database that allows anyone to find a town hall near them. Some paid staffers and up to 120 volunteers keep it up to date.\r\nNow, the founders of the effort are awarding two members of Congress with an MVP for constituent interface: Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, and Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. Both well outpaced their colleagues in meeting with the people. Wyden held 80 town halls, Sensenbrenner a whopping 115. Nathan Williams, the co-founder of the Town Hall Project, notes that Wyden makes a point to schedule town halls off his natural turf. \u201cHe holds them in all counties in the state, even in ones that aren\u2019t especially Democratic,\u201d he says. Wyden was presented his award at a town hall on Dec. 2.\r\nAs for Sensenbrenner, Williams says he is trying to arrange a time to present the award but hasn\u2019t heard back from staff yet. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on in Congress right now, so we\u2019re not taking it personally that he hasn\u2019t gotten back to us,\u201d he says. The Top 5 town hallers for both the Senate and House can be found in the chart.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sensenbrenner.house.gov/2017/12/these-lawmakers-held-the-most-town-halls-in-2017"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0125148110091686, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}