Rachel Wallace calls for debate at 75th Mondays with Meuser

Democratic candidate for the 9th congressional district Rachel Wallace called on incumbent Republican Dan Meuser to participate in a live debate during the 75th Mondays with Meuser protest outside the Lebanon County Courthouse on Monday.

Wallace said she believes there are three reasons Meuser should agree to a debate: residents are struggling with issues like rising health insurance costs while seeing corruption from politicians, Meuser should “answer for” his lack of in-person town halls and residency outside of the district, and protestors have been calling for Meuser to show up.

“You have been asking for 75 Mondays for Dan Meuser to show up, for our elected officials to be accountable to us, for them to be accessible to us,” said Wallace. “In this group, I know we don’t agree on everything, I could come up with some issues where we might have some disagreements, but the idea isn’t that we all agree all the time. The idea is that we can come together, we can hear each other out, and then we can come up with a way forward. … You have been demanding that, and it’s time that demand is answered.”

Wallace described participating in a recent effort to clean up Snake Road in southern Columbia County and compared achieving her political goals — like lowering healthcare costs, establishing congressional term limits and banning stock trading, and supporting affordable housing — to the cleanup.

“At first, as I started picking up the garbage, I thought, ‘Wow, this is very discouraging, there’s a lot of garbage and I don’t know how I’m going to make a dent in it,'” she said. “So we picked up trash for over two, three, hours, and then at the end, they said, ‘Wow, we had over 30 people here today and we picked up over six tons of garbage.’ I’m not standing here telling you I can fix our politics alone. … I can’t do it on my own — can’t clean up Snake Road, can’t clean up Washington, can’t do this job on my own — but I can do it with all of you.”

She urged voters to do their own research, saying they should look at Meuser’s voting record, his residency outside of the district following redistricting, and his finances. She said she felt “very encouraged” about her odds in the election and that “if we can get our message out, we’re gonna win.”

“Dan Meuser doesn’t live in our Congressional district, I think most people would say if you want to represent a community you should live in the community,” said Wallace. “He has also had a stock portfolio that has outperformed Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, he’s doubled his wealth since he got into Congress, he’s the wealthiest member of Congress in Pennsylvania. I think that adds up to a big question, which is, ‘Is Dan Meuser fighting for us?’ And I don’t think that he is.”

According to Wallace’s website, her priorities include rising healthcare costs and reversing the 2025 healthcare cuts in H.R. 1 2025 (the “One Beautiful Bill Act”), giving municipal governments more control over regulating data centers, banning congressional stock trading, overturning Citizens United, and creating term limits for members of Congress.

She said, “I think we’d like our politics to get a little bit normal again” and added that, if she was elected, she would be willing to vote against her party if she disagreed with them (referencing former Democratic representative Tim Holden, who voted against President Obama’s healthcare reform law, as an example).

“There is a lot going on in our national politics about who the Democratic party is, what kind of candidates we have, and I feel I’m a different kind of Democrat,” said Wallace. “For me, this is not about party, this is about our communities here and fighting for us — working families, working people — not just the wealthiest in the country.

“We need our politics to get back to local problems, local solutions, local priorities. Congress doesn’t have its priorities straight and that is a huge reason why I’m running.

Meuser’s website lists his priorities as securing the border, growing the economy by reducing regulations, supporting the energy industry and tech like AI in the financial sector, expanding Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and expanding access to loans and credit. Meuser voted against directing President Trump to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran July 23 and voted in support of the Stop Insider Trading Act July 22.

The latter, yet to be voted on in the Senate, prevents members of Congress from purchasing stocks while in office, though it allows them to sell stocks if disclosed 7-14 calendar days before the sale. Around half of the bill is dedicated to requiring photo identification for voters.

The weekly protests began in March 2025, with protesters demanding that Meuser hold a town hall to hear from residents of his district, including Bradford, Columbia, Lebanon, Montour, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Wyoming counties. Since then, the congressman has held an electronic town hall and a meeting with protestors, though protestors have continued to seek an in-person town hall.

Protesters allege that Meuser has not held a public town hall since being appointed in 2019.

Meuser told the Pottsville Republican Herald last month that he is not avoiding public forums and said he holds meetings with veterans, farmers, and chambers of commerce and meets supporters in campaign events, but reportedly “did not name an open public forum.” He said that if he met with protesters, he would “show up and get called names … and basically be a piñata.” Meuser regularly appears on programs like Newsmax, Fox Business, and several radio shows to discuss national politics.

Wallace said she recently read that some candidates are calling for making town halls mandatory for members of the House, and she said she felt “there’s something there.” She said she thinks they are an important place for residents to explain what their priorities are and ask questions of their representatives.

During the hour-long protest, in which organizer Michael Schroeder emphasized remaining peaceful, Lee Smedley and Gary Gates performed a combination of original and covered protest songs, and protesters were invited to the microphone to speak. Schroeder estimated turnout at 100.

Schroeder said the recurring protests allow protesters to build community and organize. He made remarks about the approaching election Nov. 3, saying protesters should consider supporting Wallace financially, placing yard signs in support, or canvassing for her.

“We continue to build community, we continue to deepen the friendships and the relationships we’ve already built, we spread the word about the excellence of Rachel Wallace, we provide a direct challenge to Dan Meuser to actually do his job: to hold public town hall, to actually sit and debate,” said Schroeder. “We’re gonna keep the pressure on from now until Nov. 3 because I don’t know what else to do, right, this is our effort to inject an element of genuine democracy and genuine popular will into this campaign.”