U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe brought his "listening tour" to Texarkana, Texas, on Thursday, making stops to greet local emergency responders and constituents.
Ratcliffe met with police officers and firefighters at Texarkana, Texas, Police Department's Special Operations Training Center and later attended an open house at Texarkana College's Perot Leadership Museum. At both events, he emphasized he was there to hear citizens' concerns.
"My title is United States representative, and I can't represent you without engaging. So what we've done is to go throughout the district. It's just an opportunity to engage, to listen to the things that you want me to hear," he said.
Texas-side Mayor Bob Bruggeman welcomed Ratcliffe to the gathering of police officers and firefighters, and Ratcliffe then met each emergency responder in attendance one-on-one. He wanted to be sure to thank them for all they do, he said.
At the open house, Ratcliffe mingled with about two dozen of his local constituents, taking a few moments with each to hear what they came to tell him.
James K. Milligan of Atlanta, Texas, was there to thank Ratcliffe for his help. Milligan, an Army veteran, said he struggled for 26 years to get proper medical care from Veterans Affairs. He asked Ratcliffe's office to intervene, and as a result, he finally got the total knee replacement he required.
Jeanne Layman said she came to size up Ratcliffe for herself.
"I came to look in his eyes to see if I can trust him," she said. Layman also wanted to show Ratcliffe a personal slogan she likes, which she had printed on a laminated card she carried with her: "If you don't VOTE, YOU are voting TWICE for the one YOU like the LEAST."
"He told me it was nice to see somebody who was informed," she said.
Jeraldine Scott and Laura Spencer came to the open house together out of curiosity and a sense of civic responsibility.
"I never met a congressman before," Scott said. Spencer added, "We came to be informed, to know what's going on that will affect us here in Texarkana."
Ratcliffe said that as he travels through Texas' 4th Congressional District, people tell him they are most concerned about two topics.
"More than anything else, what I hear about is national security and immigration," he said. "Really the sentiment that I'm hearing from a lot of folks is they're not opposed to refugees. They're opposed to unvetted refugees and the fact that if we can't have enough information to know how people are coming into this country, where they're coming from and what they represent, then they shouldn't be coming into this country right now, given the threats around the world."
He also weighed in on the presidential election campaign, characterizing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as unlikely to provide the change the public is calling for.
"A lot of what's come out of a reflection of what's happened in the presidential cycle is that people are fed up with the status quo. Unfortunately, with respect to Hillary Clinton, you have maybe the most status quo candidate that we've had for president for a long time.
"And I think people are concerned in this part of the district that if she gets in office that nothing's going to change in the next four years over the last eight years. And people are so frustrated with the gridlock in Washington and things not getting done, and they want that to change. I'm concerned that it might not," Ratcliffe said.
Ratcliffe took office in January 2015, after defeating 17-term incumbent Ralph Hall in the Republican primary and then running unopposed in the general election. He serves on the House Homeland Security Committee and is chairman of its Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies Subcommittee. He also serves on the House Judiciary Committee.