By Erin Golden

Minneapolis Star Tribune

SARTELL —  Amid a wave of contentious public meetings with GOP members of Congress around the country, U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer faced polite but pointed questions from a large crowd on Wednesday night at his first town hall of the year.

For just over an hour, Emmer fielded questions on immigration, climate change, health care, wages and allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election from some of the 150 people who packed into the 76-seat Sartell City Hall meeting room. Some of the most intense questions focused on the Affordable Care Act.

Many in the group — and more in the crowd outside, which police estimated at 1,000 people — came to voice their displeasure with President Donald Trump. Nationwide, anti-Trump sentiment has dominated many GOP town halls, but Emmer’s gathering was much milder.

Emmer threw a few barbs at Trump, noting that his immigration order was rolled out too quickly, and that several members of his Cabinet appear to have different priorities from the president. But the congressman from the Sixth District spent much of the meeting appealing to his constituents to find common ground in a divisive political climate.

Responding to a question from a man who said he was Muslim — and had been a Republican until he felt the party was trying to exclude people of his faith — Emmer said he wanted to support people of all backgrounds.

“Everyone in this country deserves to be able to live to their full potential and practice their faith, do you agree?” he said. “Then we have a common interest and look forward to working with you.”

The congressman drew some boos during his responses to questions on the Affordable Care Act, which he said had prompted insurance premiums to surge and should be changed as quickly as possible.

Sue O’Hara, a retired medical technician from Sartell who was the first to line up for the town hall, told Emmer that she suffers from bone cancer and worries that people like her would lose coverage if the law is repealed. “My life is in your hands,” she said.