In a two-week span, Rep. Rick Larsen’s office received more than 3,000 calls and 17,000-plus emails from concerned constituents in Washington’s Second District.
Normally, the office receives between 40–90 calls a week.
“It is a clear sign of concern and frustration from all of you,” Larsen told the nearly 13,000 people who joined a telephone town hall on Saturday, Feb. 15.
The calls and messages came between Feb. 3 and Feb. 15 from constituents worried about a myriad of factors as President Donald Trump and his new cabinet and advisers push through the administration’s agenda.
In the month since Trump was sworn in, he has dramatically dismantled the federal government. He’s suspended grant funding already allocated, impacting Washington ports and Head Start programs. Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk — the South African-born Tesla founder — in his capacity as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has gutted government agencies responsible for humanitarian work, fired thousands of federal employees, and attempted to access taxpayers’ private data.
Protests have sprung up in the name of the 50501 movement, which stands for “50 protests, 50 states, one day,” across the nation, including Bellingham and Mount Vernon.
Since then, state attorneys general, including Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration regarding executive orders the president has signed targeting birthright citizenship and gender-affirming care for transgender children. Federal judges have issued pauses on both lawsuits.
Fourteen states, including Washington, also filed a lawsuit against Musk for collecting taxpayer data. But, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday, Feb. 18, that the states had failed to show specific examples of harm.
Aside from protests and social media call-outs, constituents have reached out to Washington’s congressional delegation with their concerns.
Between Feb. 3 and Feb. 15, over 78,000 constituents emailed Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and made over 37,000 calls to her D.C., Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Spokane, Vancouver, Richland and Olympia offices.
Data from Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office was not available in time for publication.
Larsen told listeners on Saturday to send in their questions or let him know if they support what he’s doing. But constituents should also be mindful that when they flood his office’s phones, his staffers are the ones trying to pick up the phones.
“Last week when we were slammed with calls, everyone was all hands on deck,” he said. “We took all the calls, but then we couldn’t get other work done. I’m not complaining — but that’s just a fact.”
People can also email Larsen’s office. He sent a video message to 6,000 people who sent emails during the time frame that his staff was also inundated with calls.
“If we get phone calls, it takes longer to get that information into our database,” Larsen said. “But if you email, that information goes into our database system immediately and we can get a response back to you sooner and more efficiently.”
Larsen encouraged people to call the White House so the administration could hear directly from the citizens impacted by the new administration’s decisions.
If you live in Washington’s 2nd congressional district you can reach Rick Larsen at rick.larsen@mail.house.gov, or call his Bellingham office at 360-733-4500, his Everett office at 425-252-3188 or his Washington D.C. office at 202-225-2605.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
