Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner faced heated criticism over the repeal effort that collapsed just a few weeks ago. | Zach Gibson/Getty Images Colorado's Gardner faces blowback at home over Obamacare repeal

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Sen. Cory Gardner was hammered for supporting Obamacare repeal during a series of raucous town halls on Tuesday, where constituents repeatedly criticized his role in a closed-door partisan process to draft the failed GOP health bill.

Gardner, who’s responsible for protecting the GOP majority in the Senate in 2018, faced heated criticism over the repeal effort that collapsed just a few weeks ago, even as congressional leaders try to pivot to tax reform when they return from the lengthy recess next month.


While Gardner’s constituents in this purple state applauded him for his swift and strong condemnation of white supremacist groups this weekend, he was interrupted by boos and jeers of “shame” and was called a “liar” as he defended his support for health care legislation that would have significantly scaled back Obamacare and Medicaid. One attendee at the town hall here, held at Colorado Christian University in a Denver-area suburb, was escorted out by police after repeatedly shouting, “Why are you taking away health care?”

“This was so partisan in what you came up with,” said Scott McLean, a 63-year-old who said he pays roughly $830 in premiums each month for an Obamacare plan.

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“You didn’t even have a woman on the panel,” McLean said, referring to the 13-member, all-male working group tasked with drafting the Senate’s original repeal legislation. The comment drew a standing ovation from the roughly 400-person crowd in Greeley, the second of Gardner's three town halls on Tuesday.

Gardner also held town halls in Colorado Springs and Lakewood, where he shot down repeated calls to support a single-payer universal health care system favored by progressives. Meanwhile, he also faced criticism from Republicans who urged him to fulfill the party’s promise to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

“When I voted for you, you said you would repeal and replace,” said Jefferson County resident Joan Poston, a Gardner supporter.

But on health care, Gardner mostly faced criticism from constituents who said the GOP bill broke his promises to protect coverage, especially for those on Medicaid, as well as individuals with pre-existing conditions.

“We asked you to stand your ground and vote for those principles, and you did not,” said Erin Egan, a physician who practices in rural Colorado. “You only want to cut off people who need it.”

Colorado is one of 31 states that expanded Medicaid, covering an additional 425,000 low-income adults. Another 175,000 enrolled in private plans through the state’s Obamacare exchange this year.

Colorado has had some troubles with Obamacare. Premiums in the state’s Western Slope — home to several mountain ski resorts — have seen major cost spikes, and the state’s exchange struggled with prolonged glitches in the early years that depressed enrollment. Still, the law is strongly supported by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and Gardner’s Senate colleague, Democrat Michael Bennet.

Gardner cited those problems, as well as the rash of insurance plan cancellations in 2013, to advocate for bipartisan fixes to the health law. Some key Republicans in Congress are now pursuing bipartisan efforts to shore up the Obamacare exchanges, but with no guarantee that they’ll succeed.

“We’ve got to make sure we bring stability to the marketplace,” Gardner said. “What we need are reforms.”

At the same time, Gardner continued to advocate for traditional Republican health care ideas, such as creating high-risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions, allowing the sale of health insurance across state lines and putting Medicaid on a budget.

“We have to make sure that Medicaid is sustainable,” Gardner said, pointing to charts outlining the rise in federal spending on mandatory programs like health care entitlements and Social Security.

Gardner has held few town hall meetings in the last several months and has seen his own ratings lag recently. While health care was a consistent focus of the town halls, he also faced questions on tax reform, climate change, North Korea’s nuclear weapons development and education.

He was praised throughout the day for being one of the first GOP senators to speak out against white nationalist groups who led violent demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va., this weekend. The Ku Klux Klan and Nazis, Gardner said in Lakewood, “should go back to the cave they came from.”

But he refused several requests from constituents to call on President Donald Trump to fire several top advisers that critics say are sympathetic to white nationalists, including chief strategist Steve Bannon and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller.

“The president has control over his staff,” Gardner said, as he was drowned out with boos.