Initially quieted by the November elections, Democrats in Central Florida now say they’ve “had it up to here” with President Donald Trump’s large-scale slashing of the federal government, and they are making their anger known.

Like their counterparts across the country, they are protesting at congressional offices and holding rallies, even in solidly GOP communities. But whether those efforts will turn into effective political pressure — or eventual campaign success — is yet to be seen.

Organizers set an empty chair on the stage with a photo of Mills’ flanked by two rubber chickens and the words “missing” and “too scared to hold a town hall and respond to constituents’ concerns.”

Days earlier, about 300 people attended a “Save Social Security” rally in the mega-retirement community The Villages, which has long been solid red politically. Most attendees were seniors worried their benefits could be in jeopardy.

Bonnie Alfar, a member of the local Democrats club, attended the rally. A transplant from New York, for a while she said she hid her political views from her mostly Republican neighbors.

“Until I had had it up to here. Then it was like, you know what, this is who I am, take it or leave it,” she said.

Alfar left the rally with a sign reading “Stop Elon Musk’s Plan to Steal our Social Security” and planned to stick it in her yard and to protest at Republican Congressman Daniel Webster’s office later in the week.

On Friday morning, more than 50 people were at that protest outside Webster’s office in Clermont. They waved a large American flag and held signs.

“It’s simply not about voting anymore,” said Joseph Vasquez, an Oviedo resident and member of the Seminole County Democrats, who helped organize Wednesday’s event in Winter Springs. “It’s about active engagement.”

Nationally, Democrats feel emboldened now that many Americans are angry about some of Trump’s actions, including mass firings of federal employees, halting of federal grants, annexation threats against Canada and Greenland, and on-and-off tariffs, which have roiled the stock market and are boosting consumer prices.

Their aim: To put GOP lawmakers on the defensive about the Trump administration’s agenda and widespread spending cuts.

They are also eager to accuse elected Republicans of “hiding” or being “too frightened” to debate them face-to-face.

To that end, the liberal group Indivisible organized the events in Clermont and Winter Springs, highlighting that neither GOP congressman had held events to answer constituents’ questions. The group plans to hold similar protests in the coming weeks, including at Tesla dealerships in Clermont on Saturday and in Orlando on March 30. Musk is Tesla’s CEO.

Leslee Mitchell, a member of Indivisible’s Seminole chapter, said her group asked Mills’ office in mid-February for a town hall.

The organization then notified Mills’ staff on Feb. 23 it planned a gathering at his Lake Mary office off International Parkway. A day later, the organization received notice their event was “flagged” as a “political demonstration,” and the entire building would be shut down, Mitchell said.

“We’ve been trying for more than a month now,” she said. “He just doesn’t want to answer our questions.”

That’s when the group joined the Seminole County Democratic Party to hold the town hall in Winter Springs.

Amy Dunn, a district staffer at Mill’s Seminole County office, told the Sentinel Thursday the congressman plans to hold town halls in the coming weeks within his district, which includes Seminole and a portion of Volusia County.

“When we have specifics, we will let the public know,” Dunn said. “We want to entertain all points of view.”

Dunn added Mills was unable to attend the Winter Springs event because of “prior commitments.”

In an email to the Sentinel, Adam Pakledinaz, a spokesman for Webster, said Friday’s protest outside the congressman’s office were part of a coordinated national campaign “that is focused on spreading misinformation about Social Security and Medicare.”

Webster regularly meets with residents in his district, but “he will not provide a platform for orchestrated disruptions intended to create media spectacles,” Pakledinaz added.

Across the country, some town halls held by Republican members of Congress have turned confrontational as angry constituents demanded answers about federal cuts.

To counter the backlash, Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, who leads the National Republican Congressional Committee, has advised fellow party members to conduct virtual town halls instead of in-person events.

Trump and other Republicans have claimed the combative town halls are filled with “paid troublemakers,” a charge that members of the Seminole Democratic Party and Indivisible denied.

Cynthia Galatro, a retired third-grade teacher, came to the Villages rally Sunday because she worries about any changes to Social Security.

“I live rather modestly. If I were to lose any of my benefits, I would be homeless,” she said.

Galatro said while the issue seems partisan, cuts to Social Security would hurt her GOP neighbors, too, many of whom have Trump signs in their yards.

“It’s going to hit these people when it hits them in the pocketbook,” she said.

Barbie Harden Hall ran unsuccessfully against Webster, who represents much of the Villages.

She attended Sunday’s rally, too, saying many older residents are worried about changes to or delays in Social Security payments.

“It’s very concerning for a lot of people. We’re seeing huge cuts that are being attributed to waste and abuse,” Hall said. “But if you look around this room, these people are not abusing the system and it’s not a waste to them.”

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has said that the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress cannot cut their intended $1.5 trillion in spending over the next decade unless Medicare or Medicaid spending is reduced.

At the Winter Springs event, there were plenty of boos at the mention of Mills, Musk or Trump. One angry woman grabbed a microphone and loudly said that if Mills were on stage, she would demand he answer how he supports cutting social programs that benefit so many residents in his district.

“What you’re doing is wrong,” she said. “What you’re doing right now is robbing the poor to give to the rich.”