ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — A former Republican congressman from Pinellas County joined Democrats Saturday for a town hall.

These gatherings have been happening across the nation in red districts, especially in areas where GOP members of Congress have yet to host an in-person town hall.

Democrats, alongside former Pinellas County Republican congressman David Jolly, are rallying voters in the Tampa Bay area.

“There is a political movement growing right now in response to a lot of the controversy that people feel coming out of Washington, D.C. It’s not exactly partisan,” Jolly said. “Certainly, this event has been organized by the state Democratic Party, but we’re seeing people who are independents, who are soft Republicans, if you want to call them that.”

The event is part of a larger push by Democrats to host town halls in Republican districts, especially in areas where GOP members of Congress have not held any town halls.

While in these red districts, Democrats are aiming to expand their message and build voter outreach in hopes of flipping the House after the midterm election. The long game, California Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell said, is to increase voter confidence in access to the ballot box.

“We need to win the governorships and those seats because we need, to your point, the electoral infrastructure so we can flip two to three seats in each state in the midterms, and by 2028, have a state where we can even compete and have free and fair elections,” Congressman Swalwell said.

Jolly, who left the Republican Party in 2018, would like voters to pay attention to the cuts led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“If you’re concerned about the abrupt changes, concerned about the delivery of federal services, the delivery of veteran services, what does that mean for Social Security? What does it mean for Medicare? And for this particular event, the local representative is not present and apparently has not been holding town halls,” Jolly said.

Florida GOP Chair Evan Power issued a statement addressing the Democratic town halls:

“Just more manufactured noise. The people overwhelmingly re-elected Congresswoman Luna. If only the Florida Democrats were as concerned when an autopen machine was running the country as they are now that an administration is delivering on the promises they made while getting elected.”

Democrats are adding more stops in Florida as they work to grow support in unlikely places.