CITY OF NEWBURGH — About 50 demonstrators riled each other up over the ongoing presidential impeachment inquiry during a brief and boisterous rally Thursday outside U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney's district office on Grand Street.

The event was hosted by the Trump Victory fundraising committee and state GOP as part of a national campaign and local tour through Poughkeepsie and Newburgh called "Stop the Madness!" The tour targeted both Maloney and his Democratic colleague in the 19th District, U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado.

About four hours before the event, Orange County Democrats caught wind of the Republicans' plans for a demonstration featuring state GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy and Maloney's 2020 Republican challenger, Chele Farley, and organized their own local support for Maloney, leading to a fairly even turnout of Democrats, Republicans and spectators.

At one point, Trump supporters and counter-protesters began yelling and chanting at each other, with Republicans repeating the 2016 Trump campaign chants of "Lock her up!" while Democrats yelled "Lock him up!"

"We are here because we believe our congressman is doing the right thing on this issue," said Kevindaryan Lujan, a Democratic Orange County legislator from Newburgh. "We are here to tell our congressman that we want him to push for impeachment, if there is enough credible information out there. And we stand by our congressman, as he has stood by us."

Middletown residents Liza Porpiglia and her mother, Jennie, came to the rally decked out in Trump 2020 campaign gear.

Liza Porpiglia said Maloney should do a better job representing all his constituents, a majority of whom voted for Trump in 2016.

"The impeachment inquiry is illegitimate because there was no floor vote," she said, referring to historical precedent with former presidents when representatives voted before beginning an impeachment inquiry. Many other impeachment protesters at Thursday's rally used this point to argue the legitimacy of the inquiry.

"Bring it to the floor for a vote," Porpiglia said. "If it goes through, subpoena everybody. If it doesn't go through, they have no right to subpoena anyone."

Farley and Langworthy said the impeachment inquiry is all politics and no meat.

"When you have just today the Ukrainian president saying, 'There was no quid pro quo, I didn't feel pressured,' ... If that's what he said, he's the one that we should believe," Farley said.

The New York Times reported Thursday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again denied he felt pressured by Trump to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, who is a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. The report said Zelensky also insisted Trump did not try to blackmail him over military aid.

"It deserves inquiry and should continue through," said Joseph Stratford, political organizer of the 1199 SIEU, the local health-care workers' union. "We shouldn't have to stand off and use Sean Patrick Maloney as the person to focus on when the focus should be on the Trump administration, and the things that his office and his staff have done."

lbellamy@th-record.com