CORNING, N.Y. (WENY) -- Dozens of people gathered outside of Congressman Nick Langworthy's district office in Corning today to protest his stances and speak with his staff to voice their concerns. Langworthy says this isn't the first time and it won't be the last.

Constituents of New York State's 23rd Congressional District gathered on Market Street in Corning outside of Langworthy's office as threats of eliminating Social Security, gutting Medicaid/Medicare, federal job cuts, and more are emerging from the Trump administration. Political signs could be seen and words of protest could be heard by people passing by.

"Democracy is we, the people," said Marita Florini, one of the protesters. "We the people do not support this illegitimate administration. So I am here to say we need democracy. We need to abide by our Constitution. And that is the most important thing for me and for my grand kids."

Florini says she is a retired nurse practitioner who traveled to Corning from Tioga County (NY) and is highly concerned about the future of healthcare. Because of this, she says she has called Langworthy's office nearly every day to negotiate potential solutions. However, she says between her attempts at communicating and attending the Congressman's telephone town hall sessions, she hasn't been able to get through.

"We need to sit down as a community and try to improve the quality in our community, and he is not doing that," said Florini.

WENY News spoke with Congressman Langworthy and brought some of the words from protesters to his attention, beginning with his telephone town halls.

Langworthy says his monthly telephone town hall meeting program has been in place since he was elected in January of 2023. During the 90-minute public forum, calls are sent out to over 100,000 households across the district. According to the Congressman, over 5,000 people dialed in for the March meeting. He says this method is more accessible to constituents as it allows them to not have to leave their homes.

However, after facing some scrutiny from district members about not being able to access meetings online once they have concluded, Langworthy says the audio and transcriptions will now be made available online and are included in his weekly email newsletter. The audio from the March town hall can be found here.

Across the nation, both Democratic and Republican representatives are hearing from unhappy constituents and protesters at their town hall meetings. Langworthy says he believes that these protests, as well as others against Republicans, are organized efforts.

"I believe today was a created event," said Langworthy. "This wasn't six people that got together and said, let's call our friends. This is, you know, you can follow the money. This is largely funded by George Soros' organizations and ActBlue. I happen to be investigating ActBlue as a member of the Oversight Committee for criminality. So I'm not really surprised that I'm being targeted by this. But, taking that all away, I know I have constituents there. I know they disagree with my positions. I respect their opinion, I just hope they continue to offer a respectful tone. There's no place for anyone ramping things up in any sort of violent way and we have not seen that in the Corning area. We've had some vandalism and things on the other end of the district that are, are wildly unacceptable."

When asked about the protests against lawmakers on the other side of the aisle, Langworthy added, "I've only seen a couple instances on cable news where Democrats were getting yelled at, at their town halls. I think it's actually from their own activists. I don't believe this is from the conservative wing of the party. We don't really have anything to protest about right now. We won the election. President Trump won. We won the trifecta, the Senate and the House. We're governing and our activists are pretty pleased that we're getting the country going in the right direction."

Several protesters in Corning shared with WENY News that they were not being paid to attend the protest and say they just want to get through to their elected representative.

"So I'm a citizen," said Andy Patros, who lives in Chemung County and helped organize of the protest. "I assume all these people are here. They're constituents of the 23rd. They're not paid actors. They're not paid activists. We're just regular citizens that pay our taxes, and we're constituents of Nick Langworthy and the 23rd, and he represents us. So what we expect is communication, clarity, and information from the person that works for us, and that is Mr. Langworthy."

A large number of concerns were raised for things like local job cuts and, on a national level, the potential of federal Medicare cuts under the Trump administration. These are just a few of the points raised at the rally.

Congressman Langworthy, who says he openly backs many of President Trump's policies, shared with WENY News that these issues have been brought to his attention before and his message has remained the same.

"There's a lot of misinformation out there about what's going on with Medicare and Social Security and Medicaid on which President Trump has been clear and I've been clear, I don't support cuts to Medicaid, Social Security, or Medicare, period," said Langworthy. "End of story."

In the same realm, talks have been circulating in the region regarding the Social Security Administration Office in Chemung County being earmarked by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for closure.

Langworthy says the location was flagged by the Social Security Administration itself for under-utilization before DOGE even existed. However, he adds that his office has also written to the administration to ensure the Big Flats facility is not being singled out. For those with additional Social Security concerns, he says the Corning location remains open for people to attend and you can still reach out to his office as well.

On Friday, people spoke to the Congressman's staff who took down notes and they sat in his office to write and leave letters.

"Everything that happens in Washington, everything that happens in Albany, affects people's lives," said Jim Carr, a protester and the statewide president for Public Employees Federation (PEF) retirees. "It affects the quality of food we eat, what's in it, it affects our benefits, our earned benefits, like Medicare and Social Security, it affects the air we breathe. When they roll back environmental regulations, it affects everything. And that's why I think it's important that individuals and groups advocate."

Overall, Congressman Langworthy says he welcomes the dialogue from all of his constituents regardless of personal politics and urges people to continue expressing their concerns.

He adds that his office does constituent casework as well which is their number one focus. However, due to the high volume of communication throughout the year, it takes a while to process.

"I respect your right to express your constitutional right to free speech and that's what this country's founded on," said Langworthy. "You know, you certainly have the right to do that, but I also have the right to have free speech as well. I mean you have been heard, we've listened to you, but just because you yell the loudest doesn't mean that your voice is any more important than the people that aren't yelling at all."

For those looking for more information on how to reach Congressman Langworthy or access his town hall meetings, that information can be found on his website.

Patros adds that for those looking to join their protests, more information can be found on the Defeat Langworthy 2026 Facebook page.