“I’m liking what I’m hearing, and he’s getting a good reaction out of the crowd,” he said.

Tom Lewis of Red Oak said he was impressed that O’Rourke is visiting southwest Iowa in the wake of the flood. He said he also appreciated O’Rourke’s passion.

“All these people, they throw their hats in the ring, and later you see there isn’t any passion,” he said. “They just wanted to say they ran for president.”

Robert Fairchild, a local Libertarian, pressed O’Rourke on his stand on firearms after the event, asking what he considered a weapon of war and whether that included AR-15 assault rifles.

“I was trying to explain why we should have weapons of war in our communities – to prevent Russia and China from invading the U.S.,” he said.

Fairchild, who had not checked in as a media representative, was livestreaming as he questioned O’Rourke. After repeated questions, he was led out of the gym.