U.S. Rep. Mike Flood held a town hall in the Bellevue West Thunderbird Performing Arts Center on July 7, 2026. This is the first time that a congressional representative has held an official meeting at West.
“Congressman Flood reached out to Dr. Rippe about hosting this town hall meeting in our new theatre,” Principal Kevin Rohlfs said in an email. “Dr. Rippe approved the request.”
The meeting began with standing for the pledge of allegiance followed by a performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner” by two Bellevue West students. Sophomore Emberlyn Argarin sang and sophomore Chloe Balanay was the accompanist. The TPAC, which holds 950 people, was about one-quarter full.
After he addressed a project that he has been working on in Congress, Flood said there would be a question and answer period for the crowd. Many different topics were discussed, but some topics were more heavily concentrated on such as issues regarding SNAP, the use of medical marijuana, caretakers of those with disabilities, and the decisions of President Donald Trump.
Questions were asked both from cards attendees filled out before the meeting started, and from people in the audience during the meeting.
An anonymous question read from a card said, “Congressman, why do you continue to support the administration that breaks the law or ignores the law while making billions at our expense?”
In response Flood said, “I understand that you may have disagreements with the President. However, know this, I am one of the lead sponsors of a bill that would stop stock trading among members of Congress.”
This statement was followed by clapping and cheers from the audience.
Continuing the Q&A, a woman from Lincoln asked, “Will you commit to continuing your efforts on the federal level to keep marijuana as a schedule one drug with no accepted medical use?”
Flood said that he believes legalizing medicinal marijuana was a mistake. Furthermore, he went on to say that the use of Delta 8 and 9 is affecting not only adults, but young teens as well.
The meeting was scheduled to run from 5 p.m to 6 p.m., however the question and answer portion ran up until 6:30 p.m. At that time Flood gave his concluding remarks.
“Ultimately I will remain in the town square and will do the best job I can to explain to you where I’m at on these issues,” Flood said.
