Facing an increasingly competitive Republican challenger and growing discontent from Democratic organizers, Congressman Jared Moskowitz held a virtual town hall on Wednesday — his first such event since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Moskowitz, whose district includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, is under scrutiny for what local democratic groups view as a lack of engagement.
Rather than meet in public forums, Moskowitz's team has held invite-only events limited to around 20 participants. WLRN requested to attend one of these events but was denied access.
“ We're a group of Democrats, independents, progressives. We want to support him because he is a Democrat and he's our representative and we're his constituents," activist Jennifer Jones of Hope and Action, Indivisible, told WLRN last month. "But it's very hard to support him when he is not showing up for us."
READ MORE: 'Where's Jared?': Democratic organizers frustrated by Moskowitz's absence
The virtual town hall was streamed on YouTube, but with the live chat feature turned off. Moskowitz gave prepared remarks before answering about a dozen pre-selected questions — and did not address the criticism.
Moskowitz blamed Republican lawmakers for proposing cuts to programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
" One trillion dollars are proposed in the house reconciliation bill to cut Medicaid, taking money from the bottom 10% to give it to the top 10%. I thought my Republican colleagues were against their redistribution of wealth, but that's what they're doing here," he said.
Moskwitz spoke about the congressional DOGE caucus. He was the first Democrat to join the group in December of 2024 and remained on after others had left and publicly denounced the caucus.
“The DOGE Caucus, which I joined… only met twice in six months. We weren't involved in anything. DOGE did nothing. Zero. They brought nothing to Congress. Okay, so the DOGE caucus is dead, bury it. It's done,” he said.
Moskowitz had been an ardent defender of Israel, and was asked a question about the nation's restricting of aide to Gaza. He blamed Hamas for creating challenges to providing resources.
" Hamas doesn't care about their people at all. They put them at risk. They use them as human shields. They're disposable. Hamas wants these images, they want these images to beam through Chinese TikTok in order to isolate Israel from the world," he said
In his closing remarks, Moskowitz again blamed Republicans for refusing to work with Democrats and told his constituents: " If you are frustrated in this moment, it's an important reminder that elections have consequences."
Seat 'up for grabs'
Moskowitz won the state’s closest congressional election in 2024 with just over 52% of the vote. In 2026, he is facing a reelection race he has called “one of the most competitive in the country.”
But he will have less institutional support from his own party. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released its list of “frontline” incumbents, members who are in competitive seats that will receive extra resources and support. Moskowitz was not on the list.
In fact, Republicans view his seat as up for grabs. The Republican National Congressional Committee has identified 26 seats — including Moskowitz’s — that they are targeting as vulnerable in 2026. RNCC emails attacking Moskowitz have already been sent out.
The Republican primary’s frontrunner is former state Rep. George Moraitis. So far, he has nearly matched Moskowitz’s fundraising efforts.
