Representative Mike Flood, Republican of Nebraska, stood outside the theater at a local high school in Norfolk on Tuesday evening, cheerfully mingling with the protesters gathering outside his town hall.<\/p>\n
He greeted a line of seven silent provocateurs dressed in crimson hooded cloaks like the ones in the dystopian TV series \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale.\u201d He grinned for a selfie with a woman wearing a T-shirt that said \u201cDear America, Sorry About Mike Flood, Sincerely, Nebraska.\u201d<\/p>\n
He made small talk with his Democratic opponent, Chris Backemeyer, who had set up his own booth outside.<\/p>\n
This is the current strategy for Mr. Flood, a second-term congressman who won his district last year by more than 20 points, as he tries to outrun his party\u2019s embattled brand at a moment when President Trump appears to be making it as hard as possible<\/a> for lawmakers like him to do so.<\/p>\n More than running on his party\u2019s agenda, Mr. Flood was attempting on Tuesday to run just slightly to the side of it, positioning himself as a bipartisan operator willing to talk to anyone, while offering qualified support for the president\u2019s policies and sympathy for constituents feeling its negative effects.<\/p>\n His pitch to voters during a sparsely attended town hall meeting contained little mention of what Mr. Trump labeled his \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill,\u201d the tax cut and domestic policy package that at one point in the not-so-distant past was supposed to be the centerpiece of the Republican pitch for the midterm campaign. He referred to it only in passing a few times over the course of a 90-minute session.<\/p>\n Instead, Mr. Flood repeatedly touted the bipartisan bills he had supported and told the crowd he hoped he had convinced them that \u201cI\u2019m getting results, and that I am working to be bipartisan\u201d while taking advantage of opportunities to carefully distance himself from Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n Mr. Flood is not among the small group of Republicans in Congress who have routinely broken with Mr. Trump. He has backed the president on the war in Iran, his tariffs and his tax cuts and deep reductions to social safety net programs, among many other things. He is also not one of Mr. Trump\u2019s fervent MAGA defenders.<\/p>\n His performance on Tuesday night offered a glimpse of how one G.O.P. lawmaker who falls somewhere in between the defectors and the acolytes \u2014 where many House Republicans dwell on a daily basis \u2014 is running for re-election and trying to sell his party\u2019s agenda at a tricky political moment.<\/p>\n Mr. Flood\u2019s solidly red district would seem to put him in a safer position than some of his colleagues who are bracing to lose their seats in Congress in November. It would take high turnout in the urban center of Lincoln, coupled with low turnout in the rural counties surrounding it, for Mr. Flood to have a competitive race, according to a summary from last year conducted by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.<\/p>\n But a recent poll<\/a> showed Mr. Flood leading Mr. Backemeyer, the former State Department official who is the Democratic nominee, by just two percentage points. And Republicans are bracing for a potential wave election, worried that Mr. Trump\u2019s unpopular policies, the high cost of living and the president\u2019s refusal to talk coherently and consistently about affordability could swamp their majorities in Congress.<\/p>\n So there was Mr. Flood, presenting himself as a Republican who can see that life is too expensive, is willing to work with Democrats, and is even up for chatting with his detractors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are moving the country forward, we are unleashing energy independence, we are working to bring down taxes,\u201d Mr. Flood told the room of about 150 mostly frustrated voters, trying to explain that there were \u201cso many good things that have happened in the last two years.\u201d<\/p>\n The crowd booed and groaned throughout much of the session, although Mr. Flood at times also received applause at an event that was held on somewhat friendly turf, in his hometown.<\/p>\n Instead of talking at length about tax cuts, Mr. Flood tried to highlight his support for the sprawling housing bill the House had passed earlier this month, noting with pride that \u201cevery single Democrat in the House of Representatives voted yes.\u201d It is still not clear whether it will even pass the Senate or be signed into law, in part because Mr. Trump has expressed only lukewarm support<\/a>.<\/p>\n When asked about the ongoing war in Iran, Mr. Flood conceded that \u201cprices are too high right now. It costs too much when you go to the grocery store \u2014 everything costs too much.\u201d<\/p>\n But, he added: \u201cI also don\u2019t want Iran with a nuclear weapon. I don\u2019t want to cut and run, I want the strait open, I want our NATO allies to help us and I want prices to come down.\u201d<\/p>\n