Texas lawmakers Greg Casar, Erin Zwiener hold town hall at Texas State

SAN MARCOS, Texas - Texas State welcomed Congressman Greg Casar and State Representative Erin Zwiener on Thursday for a town hall.

Several dozen people packed into a room at the student center to hear from them.

The backstory:

"There is a very important history of First Amendment rights in instructional freedom that we should all be invested in defending," said Zwiener.

The town hall comes as both the U.S. House and Senate are out of session simultaneously for the first time this year.

"It’s really important for elected officials to communicate with their constituents, answer their questions, whether it’s people of your political party or not," said Casar.

Lawmakers and their constituents talked about all the hot-button issues, including LGBTQ+ rights, school vouchers, and health care.

"I believe in and support a single-payer-for-all program that would dramatically reduce cost for people," said Casar.

Attendees like Samuel Kulovitz said they’re here to make sure issues that matter most to them, like trans rights, get attention in Congress.

"Coming today, after I've kind of lost that pre-election hope, getting to come back and be reminded that there are still people fighting and that even as nobody knows what’s going on, there are representatives that still care, and it just felt a little bit reassuring," said Kulovitz.

Regardless of where people stand on an issue, lawmakers tell them to keep pushing.

"I think staying engaged, staying visible is all incredibly important," said Zwiener.

Dig deeper:

With most attendees in agreement, this town hall was a breeze compared to others happening across the country. In Maryland, Congressman Glenn Ivey (D) answered to yelling.

Ivey: "I'm gonna answer his question.... (screaming).... you'll get a turn... (screaming)... you will get a turn, but, it's not your turn. It's his turn. I'm gonna answer his question."

Recently, North Carolina’s Richard Hudson (R), the head of the House GOP re-election efforts, warned his members to consider tele-town halls instead of in-person town halls during this recess.