With the hottest day of the summer so far in Oklahoma, protesters were at the Purcell Walmart attempting to put the heat on U.S. Congressman Tom Cole.

The mostly Democrat gathering at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 30, was organized by the Congressional District 4 Democrat chair to protest several issues they feel are important and that they believe are not being heard by Representative Cole.

The Congressman was in Purcell for a 10 a.m. community meeting at Sonny’s Cafe.

Sherrie McNall, McClain County Democrat Party vice-chair, said, “It was hot and most of us were holding umbrellas and drinking a lot of water.”

“It is important for CD-4 to let this representative of ours know how unhappy we are for his support in all the things that Trump is doing,” McNall said. “So much of what Trump is doing is against our Constitution. Cole just supports his bills instead of doing what Congress should be doing.”

McNall said the protest was the best way to let Cole know that a lot of people don’t agree with him.

“We are worried about what is happening to our country, and to our freedoms,” McNall said.

She said they are stressed out about the way masked people are picking up immigrants and throwing them in jail, without giving them their rights.

“That’s not what we are in America,” McNall said. “There are ways to determine if these people are criminals or not. They are even picking them up when they are going to court to get their green cards.”

She said she personally is sad that the U.S. government is lacking in empathy and compassion to these families. She added that they deserve better.

McNall said the protest was a way to show they were against the recent signing of the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

“Cole helped sign this Big Beautiful Bill of Trumps which is going to take away Medicaid from our poorest people and give tax breaks to the richest people — giving to the rich and taking away from the poor,” McNall said.

She added that the issue went even further politically since “the Medicaid issues won’t go into effect until after the election next year when they go up for election in 2026.” She said, “They promised they would not take away from Medicaid, but they passed a bill that puts it into effect after the next election is over.”

McNall said the protest at Purcell was peaceful and thoughtful as carried out.

“We didn’t want to break any laws, and wanted it to be a safe protest,” McNall said. “We used social media to get the information out to the people of CD-4.”

She said she felt it was successful from the makeup of those protesting and addressed the issues they felt are important.