Heatwave or not, Centre County protesters still showing up to Glenn Thompson’s office
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Weekly protests target Rep. Thompson's voting record and Trump alignment.
- Despite heat advisories, residents persist with signs and regular attendance.
- Organizers aim to sway rural voters ahead of the 2026 congressional election.
Tuesday’s forecast brought lots of sunshine, intense heat — and fed-up protesters in front of the Bellefonte area office of U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard.
Sponsored by the Centre County Democratic Committee, “Thompson Tuesdays” are weekly protests of Thompson’s “poor votes” in Congress, per the committee’s website. More broadly, residents protest Thompson’s support and endorsement of the Trump administration.
The first demonstration, held back in March, rallied nearly 200 protesters in front of Thompson’s office off Benner Pike. Soon after, the one-time protest evolved into the weekly rally it is today, where a committed group of more than a dozen still arrive weekly, regardless of the weather.
“We the people are pissed off,” said Abbey Carr, executive director of the Centre County Democratic Committee. “Like to be honest, no weather, no plan is gonna stop it.”
Three months after that first protest, despite the National Weather Service’s heat advisory this past Tuesday, about 15 residents huddled in front of Thompson’s office in an almost routine fashion. Dressed in relaxed summer clothing and sun hats to beat the heat, attendees carried picket signs to the street corner. Some were handmade, some were printed, but they all read messages of discontent.
“No Kings No Throne” read one, while two others read “Dump Trump” and “Chaos, Cruelty, and Higher Costs: Are we there yet?” As protesters raised their signs, some engaged in small talk while passing cars honked in approval.
Ray Bilger, a major organizer of “Thompson Tuesdays,” was also in attendance. Bilger, who once served on Thompson’s advisory board, was a lifelong Republican until January — and he now considers himself nonpartisan. After serving in the U.S Air Force for 10 years, then 14 years for the U.S Foreign Service, Bilger is now a leader for the Democratic Committee’s resistance group.
“I took an oath to defend my country against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and uphold the Constitution. And I don’t think that that has an expiration date,” he said. “That’s the reason I got involved.”
This week’s protest also attracted residents from as far as Clarion, Pennsylvania — an almost 2-hour drive from Thompson’s Bellefonte office.
Jamie Sewell, a Clarion resident who was holding a “No Kings” sign from the nationwide protests on June 14, isn’t a stranger to road trips. The Air Force veteran also joined Indivisible We Rise, an advocacy group based in West Central Pennsylvania, to protest Thompson at his other offices in Oil City and Washington, D.C.
“It’s my first time at this protest; I’ve been to quite a few,” Sewell added.
Sewell wanted to attend partly because of Thompson’s support of Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” Act. Critics say the bill, packed with tax breaks and budget proposals, threatens significant cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. And that concerned Sewell, who cited the “mental health problems” that millions of Americans face in anticipation of the bill’s approval.
The bill was recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and is now awaiting approval by the Senate.
A Centre County native, Thompson represents Pennsylvania’s 15th District, which encompasses parts of 18 different counties. Thompson wasn’t at his Bellefonte office Tuesday and did not show up to the Centre County Democratic Committee town hall meeting back in March. His absence has been a major point of criticism at the Thompson Tuesday rallies.
“On Tuesday, Congressman Thompson was at work in Washington, voting, the very job a vast majority of people elected him to do,” Thompson’s Communications Director, Kelsey Holt, said in an email.
In his last election, Thompson won against his Democratic opponent by more than a 40-point margin. And, with the next congressional election more than a year away, the Centre County Democratic Committee is doing its best to flip the deep red area to blue.
“We need to get the word out and do whatever we can to possibly change the situation in any legal way possible,” Bilger said.
Drawing from his extensive experience in U.S government and foreign policy, along with his knowledge of the district, Bilger travels around the 15th District to speak on the impact that Thompson’s votes have on his supporters. He and other protesters have criticized what they see as worrisome budget cuts, billionaire-first politics and executive overreach, in addition to numerous other issues.
In the meantime, Thompson Tuesdays protesters don’t plan on stopping anytime soon — rain or shine.
“I guess it eventually will start to snow,” Carr said. “That would kind of suck.”
This story was originally published June 26, 2025 at 1:20 PM.
