San Diegans brought questions and anxieties about the Trump administration to Rep. Sara Jacobs’ latest in-person town hall meeting Wednesday night at Madison High School.
To the audience of about 200 people, the Democratic congresswoman of the 51st district outlined what she said is the House Democrats’ four-part strategy to combat the Trump administration’s actions:
- Introducing legislation, including an effort to delete the Department of Government Efficiency, and to expand estate taxes on the wealthy in part to fund child care (Jacobs’ LEGACY Act)
- Supporting legal actions against Trump policies
- Conducting oversight checks, such as making visits to immigrant detention facilities
- Applying public pressure: “I know it’s easy to feel like, ‘Oh, this public pressure doesn’t work, they don’t care what we think.’ But it isn’t true,” Jacobs said. She referenced the Trump administration’s reversals on the federal funding freeze and student visa revocations.
When asked what’s being done to fight Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, Jacobs said there isn’t much Democrats can do legislatively, being the minority in Congress. But she said she and her colleagues have been making oversight visits to immigrant detention facilities, including the Otay Mesa Detention Center, that she believes have helped put pressure on the Trump administration to make changes.
Tensions at the town hall boiled over when it came time to answer a question about Gaza, and whether the Israeli government’s military offensive there amounts to genocide. Roughly a dozen people protested outside the town hall building, demanding that Jacobs and other elected leaders recognize the situation as genocide.
Pro-Palestinian protestors chant outside before Rep. Sara Jacobs’ town hall at Madison High School on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The town hall was disrupted when one protester inside the hall started yelling at Jacobs. Then some audience members yelled at the protester. Jacobs addressed the protester and thanked him for his passion because she said this is “something that all of our consciences … should be worried about.” Police eventually escorted the man out after he continued yelling.
Jacobs said she is “very concerned” that there might be genocide of Palestinians, but said that is a legal determination that she cannot make, since she isn’t a lawyer.
“I think we’ve clearly seen serious atrocities. I think we’ve likely seen war crimes, and we’ve definitely seen forced displacement that could … amount to ethnic cleansing,” said Jacobs, who is Jewish and has family in Israel. She added that she believes there should be a free Palestinian state.
In June, Jacobs co-introduced the Block the Bombs Act, which she said would halt U.S. deliveries of offensive weapons to Israel and demand Israel’s compliance with U.S. and international law.
“Self-defense cannot be justification for killing tens of thousands of people, imposing a humanitarian blockade, or forcing the displacement of a population. And yet, this is exactly what the Netanyahu government has done for more than a year in Gaza,” Jacobs said in a June press release about the bill.
But Jacobs’ answer was not enough to satisfy the demonstrators. Sarah Miller, a member of Oceanside-based Osiders 4 Palestine group, said she thought Jacobs’ answer was weak, and the U.S. must stop sending any weapons or money to Israel.
“We refuse to sit quiet while babies are being starved to death with our tax dollars,” Miller said.
Jacobs addressed audience questions about other issues, including election integrity, free speech and tax breaks for the rich.
A high school social studies teacher who works at a school located in Rep. Darrell Issa’s district asked Jacobs’ advice on what he should be teaching students in this political climate. Jacobs suggested he have his students brainstorm and design what they think a better democracy would look like.
A man who said he is autistic said he is disturbed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s plans for autism research, which include a plan to mine people’s information from medical records, insurance claims and consumer wearables into a central database.
Jacobs said she thinks the secretary’s actions are “horrible on many realms” and she is trying to figure out how to protect Medicaid and other program funding to support people with autism.
Attendees listen to Rep. Sara Jacobs speak during a town hall at Madison High School on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
A retiree said he struggled for hours to get information about his Social Security benefits on a confusing online platform, and he is concerned that the Trump administration will close local Social Security Administration offices whose employees can help retirees like him access their benefits.
Jacobs said she is aware of only one regional office in Oceanside that may be at risk of closing, which she said she and Democrat colleagues are fighting.
An independent voter asked whether there was any action at all by Trump that Jacobs agrees with him about. After pausing to think, Jacobs named two: she thinks Trump has made good moves to increase fertility access — for women who want children, Jacobs said. And she agrees with his policy toward Syria, which included lifting sanctions on the country with faith that the new Syrian government can help stabilize the region.
A bartender said it feels like the Democratic Party is directionless and doesn’t know where it’s going. “When are we going to go, ‘Fight, fight, fight!’” he asked Jacobs.
Jacobs said she thinks people often ask this question because they’re hoping for a savior, someone like Barack Obama in 2008. But she discourages people from pinning their hopes on one showing up, saying that one person or one election will not fix the country’s problems.
“There are no messiahs,” Jacobs said. “Let’s stop asking for a savior and let’s start being the one we feel like our community needs.”
Originally Published: July 31, 2025 at 3:32 AM PDT