“How do we fight? We fight them in the courts, every way we can. We fight in the courts, because we believe in the Constitution of the United States. You believe in it, and our country believes in it,” Gallego said.

An 18-year-old Democratic high school student asked about the party’s messaging, saying “a lot of people in the Democratic Party, especially young people, are concerned about messaging… I think a lot of you know, the reason that we lost in [2024] was not because our policies are less popular, because we’re right, but we don’t have a way to get that message out.”

Gallego, in response, said, “People don’t vote for a party. It’s us that run as Democrats. We need to be the face of the party, and we need to be out there.” 

“The problem is that we are too ‘effing safe all the time, only doing certain interviews with CNN and MSNBC,” Gallego said.

“But then we don’t necessarily go talk to Fox News, or we actually don’t go on podcasts, because maybe that podcaster, maybe that podcaster isn’t 100% aligned with our politics or visit they said something stupid years ago, and therefore we can’t go on there, because then we’ll get canceled by our own people, right?” Gallego continued.

Gallego also touched on Joe Rogan, a self-proclaimed independent with one of the most listened to podcasts in the U.S. 

“We had Joe Rogan. We canceled Joe Rogan years ago, and Democrats don’t want to admit this, we did. And then it became a question whether we should go on Joe Rogan or not. We did this to ourselves,” Gallego said.

President Donald Trump and other political figures went on his podcast during the 2024 campaign, but Rogan said an interview between himself and former Vice President Kamala Harris could not be arranged because her team could not commit to an interview in his Austin, Texas office and he did not want to do the interview elsewhere. 

“I think we just have to have a little more breathing room and say, ‘You know what? We better get out there again,’” Gallego said, arguing Democrats need to become a “big tent” party.

Other prominent Democrats including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) have criticized Democrats’ “toxic” messaging strategy from the 2024 general election. They blasted the party for “talk[ing] down to people.”

The town hall in Bucks County, Pennsylvania comes as Gallego, a freshman Senator, has had his name floated as a 2028 presidential contender. He noted that he was holding the town hall in that county because Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), who represents the area, has not held a town hall there since Trump returned to office. 

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Ahead of the town hall, in an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Gallego framed his visit as an attempt to ramp up pressure on Democrats which he said are “acting swiftly” to oppose Trump “without a clear plan.”

“Democrats still look like the party that brought a knife to a gunfight,” Gallego writes. “And honestly, it’s not as easy as just standing up to Donald Trump at every possible chance. Voters want Washington to work. They want their elected leaders to work together and solve problems, not score points.”