As the yellow blossoms of arrowleaf balsamroot rioted across hillsides on one of those Methow Valley spring days that feel more like summer, about 100 people were spending their Saturday afternoon at a protest in the small town of Twisp.

Saturday’s protest is part of the town’s weekly routine: Every Saturday, 100-150 people show up, sometimes accompanied by at least one counter-protester. Last weekend, I was there to see it. The protesters lined both sides of Division Street and South Glover, where Highway 20 meanders through Twisp en route to the farther-flung communities of Winthrop and Mazama. Among the throng were health care workers carrying signs saying “MEDICAID SAVES LIVES.” One attendee held a sign emblazoned with Congressman Dan Newhouse’s phone number.

Subarus and Teslas coasted past, some honking their support. A few drivers voiced dissent: One man in a truck rolled down his window and yelled “Make America great again! Trump is king!” as he held his fist out the window.

“Have a great day!” responded one of the protesters.

In the 2024 election, Donald Trump won Okanagan County by a double-digit margin, but Twisp tends to subvert the region’s Trump Country reputation, and the town’s commitment to activism has always punched above its weight. In 2017, Twisp’s Women’s March drew an estimated 600 to 800 participants, according to the Methow Valley News – a huge turnout for a town of just over 1,000 residents.

Twisp’s ongoing activism is a reminder that the recent spate of protests against the Trump administration isn’t limited to solid-blue communities in the I-5 corridor. And the Twisp protesters’ concerns echo one that frequently shows up in our coverage of communities east of the Cascades: access to health care. In rural communities throughout the state, people already travel long distances to obtain basic health care, a dynamic that could become even more entrenched under House Republicans’ proposed cuts: They would slash $880 billion in funding, with most of those dollars coming from Medicaid.

It’s no surprise that these cuts have been a major sticking point for people living in Newhouse’s district, where a disproportionate number of residents rely on Medicaid. Earlier this month, reporter Mai Hoang wrote about constituents who pushed back against proposed Medicaid cuts at town hall events held by Democrats in Eastern Washington. Their frustration was evident: One participant even brought an artificial spine and pelvis in a political theater-esque swipe at Newhouse’s “lack of spine,” Mai reported.

In the Methow Valley, the only medical care available is provided by small clinics. The closest hospitals are about an hour’s drive away. If the Medicaid cuts go through, rural hospitals could be forced to close, gutting access for rural Washingtonians.

When it comes to protest movements, the “Hands Off” actions held in cities throughout the country have been a major focus of news coverage, but for communities like Twisp, a lot is hanging in the balance.

So as we follow the ongoing collision between local and national politics in the Pacific Northwest, I’m interested in covering rural protest movements making waves in towns that don’t always end up in headlines on the other side of the Cascades. We’ll continue our coverage of the ongoing agitation in Newhouse’s district, but I’d like to know: Where else do you see small-scale grassroots activism making a difference? Washington is a big state, and there’s much more to the Methow Valley than arrowleaf balsamroot blooms. Where would you like us to go next?