For more than two decades, Americans have been enduring a GOP-initiated assault on voting rights. From the early 2000s under the Bush Administration, the Republican Party has engaged in a strategy of legal maneuvers to drive down voter turnout, particularly in heavily Democratic areas, through the imposition of restrictive voter-ID laws that have an obvious and disproportionate impact on communities of color, and the opposition to early voting practices that are engaged in especially by Democratic voters. According to a 2014 study by the Government Accountability Office, states with new voter-ID restrictions saw an especially significant decline in turnout among minority voters.
Now, in 2026, the Trump Administration has set the objective to vastly expand voter suppression, making voting impossible or far more difficult under a grossly misnamed “Save America” initiative. The Save America Act proposes legislation for stricter voter-ID requirements, reduced early voting periods, fewer polling places where people can vote in person, and limitations on mail-in and absentee ballots. Trump has stated that this is one of his highest priorities, even declaring that he will not sign any future legislation until Save America is passed.
While it is true that in many democracies, voter IDs are requirements for voting, the new U.S. federal id requirements specified under the Save America proposed legislation are uniquely onerous. The Save America Act would significantly impact university students by eliminating online/mail-in voter registration, requiring in-person presentation of citizenship documents (like a passport or birth certificate) to vote or register. This likely creates high barriers for students, who often rely on convenient, remote registration methods.
More important is the required proof of U.S. citizenship, fulfillable either by birth certificate or U.S. passport. It is estimated that nearly 10% of U.S. citizens don’t have or cannot lay their hands upon either of those documents. Two well-known facts about women are that they are more inclined than men to vote Democratic, and that when they married millions of them changed the surname which appeared on their birth certificates when they later were married.
Many of them may find themselves disenfranchised thereby when they show up to vote.
Trump’s Republican Party stands apart from that of most contemporary democracies. While some political parties in other countries have faced criticism for restrictive voting policies, none have made decreasing participation a central priority as observed here in America’s GOP. The Trump administration uniquely seeks to suppress rather than encourage and enhance the participation of citizens in the electoral process.
In America’s representative democracy, the right to vote is a cornerstone of our democratic system. It is through exercise of this right that the legitimacy of government is established. Lincoln’s vision of a government “of the people, for the people, by the people” underscores the essential role that voting plays in ensuring true representation. May we come to aid and defend Lincoln’s promise of democracy by contacting our members of Congress demanding their vote against the grossly misnamed Save America Act, which would undermine the foundation of our democracy by discouraging or even denying millions of its citizens their right to vote.
At SC’s No Kings protest, more than 1,000 protesters urged to do more to make political change -- Protesters’ issues included the war in Iran and voting rights. Organizers told them to get involved.
BY: SKYLAR LAIRD - MARCH 28, 2026 5:43 PM
COLUMBIA — More than 1,000 people showed up to the Statehouse for the No Kings rally Saturday. They needed to do more than that if they wanted to see real change, activists and organizers said.
The rally, which ran most of the day Saturday, was the third major event held across the country generally protesting President Donald Trump. Similar protests took place across South Carolina and in every state in the country.
At the top of protesters’ minds Saturday were the war in Iran, the files released detailing the activities of Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges, and voting rights, especially with the proposal of the SAVE Act, which would create photo ID requirements nationwide for voters. (South Carolina already has a photo ID law similar to the proposal rejected by the U.S. Senate on Thursday.)
Those added onto repeated grievances, including the rising cost of health care, racism and homophobia, and opposition to mass deportation of immigrants.
Although most of the protesters came to speak against Trump and other federal officials for nationwide issues, organizers and activists urged them to take a more local look at the problems.
“You don’t have to go to Washington, D.C., to protect democracy,” said Jace Woodrum, head of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “You can do it right here.”
That might mean signing up to volunteer with a local organization, running for office or remembering and encouraging others to vote in upcoming elections, said Woodrum and other speakers.
“Don’t leave here today without making a commitment about what you’re going to do tomorrow,” Woodrum told the hundreds gathered on the Statehouse grounds.
Two dozen booths offered help in registering to vote, email lists of volunteer opportunities and information on candidates for upcoming elections. Among them were the South Carolina Progressive Network, the Young Democrats of the Central Midlands, the Alliance for Retired Americans and the Lexington County Democratic Party.
If the October No Kings event, when thousands marched down Main Street to the Governor’s Mansion, was meant to show that people were unhappy, Saturday was meant to focus on what they could do about it, said Sam Gibbons, who helped organize the event with national group 50501.
“I don’t just want to see you here,” Gibbons told the crowd. “I want to see you in the streets or with the ACLU or volunteering.”
Some candidates made appearances Saturday. More than two dozen Democratic and independent candidates for Congress, the state Legislature, local offices and statewide races made their case to a crowd of fluctuating size.
Candidates can file to run for office until noon Monday. A statewide primary election will take place June 9, ahead of the general election in November.
Simon Joseph, a retired Army sergeant, said he doesn’t have the time to volunteer for the causes he supports, but he believes the most important thing a person can do to make a change is vote and encourage people they know to vote.
“All I can do is just make sure that I vote in the next election,” the 65-year-old said.
He brought his two daughters, who are 11 and 13, from their home in Lexington to show them they can make a difference by showing up, he said. After spending six years in the Army, health care costs and the Iran war both weigh on Joseph, he said.
“Right now, it’s not the America I want to live in,” Joseph said.
Molly Westberry, Marcus Massoud and Marisa Rodriguez, all freshmen at the University of South Carolina, saw the event on social media and decided to show up to show their anger about the war in Iran, the Epstein files and a general culture of hatred.
The rally was the first protest any of the three had attended. As drivers honked their horns at protesters on the way past, they hoped the scale of the event would show not everyone is happy with the current administration, Massoud said.
“It’s hard to ignore past a certain point,” Massoud, a business major, said of the crowd.
For Wendi McIntyre, the rally was more about building a sense of camaraderie. After attending the October march, McIntyre knew gathering in the streets wouldn’t necessarily create major change on its own.
“Politicians may change their stance a little bit, but seeing what’s happening, these really, to me, are about helping me to have hope and know that I’m not alone,” said the 67-year-old retiree from Pawleys Island.
In the Upstate
At Clemson University, about 50 students and a few older members of the community participated in the first No Kings protest on campus.
They marched near the main entrance in the shadow of Tillman Hall, a building that has sparked previous and unrelated protests at Clemson. The building is named after Ben Tillman, an avowed white supremacist as governor (1890-94) and U.S. senator (1895-1918), who helped found the college. Students and faculty often refer to the building as Old Main, a reference to its pre-1946 name, Main Building.
“Students are here because they’re concerned about a lot of things, about aggressive immigration enforcement, the war in Iran, and meanwhile the economy is still getting worse,” said Allison Curl, a biosystems engineering student at Clemson who organized the Clemson protest.
“The concerns vary among students,” she said. “Some graduate students are concerned about cuts in science research funding. Others are concerned about aggressive ICE enforcement or the war.”
Emma Harrington, a bioengineering graduate student at Clemson, said she attended the event to protest cuts to federal research funding.
Students had a number of other concerns, she said, including the number of prominent people named in the Epstein files who seem to be escaping accountability.
“The evidence is coming out that so many people in power, not just Trump, were involved with Epstein,” Harrington said. “Many were there on the island. The thing that really upsets me is that they’re not going to get investigated or punished.”
Meanwhile, the war in Iran also is much on the minds of students, Harrington said.
“The war is not only unnecessary,” she said. “It was poorly planned. They hit an elementary school on the very first day. We’re wasting the lives of our soldiers, and civilians over there are getting hurt as well.”
Shortly before the No Kings protest started in the small Anderson County town of Pendleton, organizer Erin Goss spoke about the wide range of issues on the minds of the hundreds of people who had already gathered on the town square, known as the Village Green.
“There are many things on people’s minds,” said Goss, an associate professor of English at Clemson University. Those include, she said, “the overstepping of ICE into our neighbors’ lives” and the war in Iran. But it’s Trump’s mass deportation efforts she most opposes, she said.
Goss also called the protest a celebration of a like-minded community.
“I think a lot of us for a long time thought that we were alone in the way we felt about the direction of the country,” Goss said. “So, a gathering like this is a reminder that we’re not alone and we’re working very hard to try to build a community that lasts when this regime is done.”
Paul Hyde contributed to this report from Clemson and Pendleton.
No Kings day rallies roll out across the US, with millions said to attend anti-Trump protests
BY: ASHLEY MURRAY - MARCH 28, 2026 3:28 PM UPDATED 7:32 PM
WASHINGTON — Large crowds took to the streets Saturday in the nation’s capital for the third No Kings protest, rallying with others across the United States against what organizers say is an unprecedented expansion of power by President Donald Trump.
Thousands of people carrying signs and playing music began the day at Memorial Circle below Arlington National Cemetery. Crowds exiting the cemetery Metro stop clogged exit gates as they flowed toward Arlington Memorial Bridge into the district.
A dense crowd already was packed around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool by late Saturday morning. Hundreds moved to the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol by late afternoon for a separate Remove the Regime rally, where numerous speakers, including former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, urged Congress to impeach the president. Dunn, who is running for Congress in Maryland in 2026, was on duty during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.
No Kings day national organizers anticipated more than 3,000 demonstrations across the United States, in every congressional district, and worldwide marches were organized on six continents, according to Logan Keith, a No Kings day organizer and national communications coordinator for the advocacy group 50501. Organizers said Saturday night at least 8 million people participated
No notable instances of violence or conflict with counter-protesters were reported by late Saturday afternoon, though a bomb threat at the Hawaii Capitol disrupted the Honolulu rally, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
The previous national No Kings demonstration in October drew millions of Americans to the streets, and Saturday’s protests were expected to as well. States Newsroom’s live blog from Saturday includes reports and photos from across the nation.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, site of the nation’s flagship event, tens of thousands were gathering around the state Capitol, the Minnesota Reformer reported. Streets were clogged, buses packed and parking scarce well more than a mile away as throngs — dressed in layers and carrying homemade signs with messages like “No War” and “1776” — streamed toward the Capitol.
Headliners and speakers were expected, such as Bruce Springsteen — who will sing his new song “Streets of Minneapolis” — as well as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers, Jane Fonda, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and more.
In the months since the previous No Kings rallies, the Trump administration sent thousands of federal agents into Minneapolis, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen, on Jan. 7.
Just over two weeks later, Customs and Border Patrol agents killed Alex Pretti, also 37 and a U.S. citizen.
Robin Eller, who is from Minneapolis but was protesting in New York City, said it was necessary for her to be part of the demonstration.
“We’ve seen two of our neighbors shot and killed for no reason other than trying to do what’s right for other humans in our community,’’ she said. “So we just feel like whenever we have the chance to be part of, numbers that help bring accountability, that’s what we want to do.’’
In recent months, many high-profile violent encounters between federal law enforcement and the public circulated widely on social media and in news reports. One notable video captured ICE agents violently pulling Bangladeshi American Aliyah Rahman from her vehicle as she told the officers she was disabled, according to her testimony before lawmakers on Capitol Hill in February.
Other high-profile arrests have occurred across the country, including in Nashville, Tennessee, where ICE agents arrested the 35-year-old journalist, Estefany Rodriguez Florez, despite her pending asylum application. Florez and her husband, a U.S. citizen, had just dropped their 7-year-old child at school before the arrest.
Bigger crowds
Crowds at the Washington, D.C., No Kings march noticeably were larger compared to October’s march. Rallygoers carried signs protesting Trump’s mass deportation campaign, increases in health care costs and the administration’s heavy redactions of the Epstein files.
A speaker rallying the crowd at the Virginia side of the Arlington Memorial Bridge urged participants to vote in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
“Let’s get our march on, let’s fight,” he said.
Across the country, messages against Trump’s monthlong war in Iran also featured prominently. The president launched joint operations with Israel on Feb. 28 that has since spread across the Middle East and caused an oil shortage crisis worldwide.
So far 13 American service members have died, and more than 300 have been injured, including 15 wounded Friday after an attack on a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia.
In the Washington, D.C. march, Robyn Abshire Sims, 52, of Virginia, carried a sign reading “Impeach. Remove. Convict. 25th Amendment Now.”
“I am here to be in solidarity with the masses. They have no idea how many of us there are,” she said. “Donald Trump needs to be removed, right now.”
Ezra Bermudaz, who is in his 40s and lives in northern Virginia, said the administration is “unprofessional” and that it is alienating Americans from their government.
“A real good politician, make us feel like we’re part of it. Right now, it feels like we’re not part of it,” he said. “… I don’t activate, I’m not a protester, but it really does suck.”
David Landolfi attended the D.C. march dressed in his U.S. Marine fatigues bearing his name. The retired veteran of 26 years deployed with the 2nd Marine Division to Vietnam at the end of the war, and later to Lebanon.
“I wanted all the other people here to know that I was in the military, and the military do support a lot of things that I’m supporting today,” said Landolfi, 72, of Annapolis, Maryland.
“Most military men and women are not in support of war. And that was a promise that (Trump) made, that we wouldn’t be in any more wars. And, well, that’s not happening,” he said.
IN THE CITIES
Beyond the district, protests in other big cities drew large crowds Saturday.
In Chicago, Saturday’s demonstration was larger than previous rounds, which were responses to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement in Chicago and other Democratic-led cities. Some first-time protesters Saturday said they were motivated by the war in Iran, rising prices and persistent unaffordability, and the current government shutdown that hamstrung airline employees and travelers.
Many people blamed Trump for their feelings of anxiety and a sense of the country backsliding.
“Never in my 70 years did I think I would still be out here fighting for basic human rights. Or that I’d be fighting to not be ruled by a king,” said Valerie Butler-Newbern, 70.
In New York City, crowds packed Times Square.
Giuseppe Palazzolo said he is a former MAGA supporter who became disillusioned with the Trump administration because of the war with Iran. He said he thinks that it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars and not what the American public wants. The Staten Island man said Trump broke campaign promises that he would not start wars and would bring peace to the Middle East.
The White House released a statement ahead of Saturday’s rally criticizing the event and the media. President Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday. According to the traveling press, he visited his golf club nearby but made no public statements.
“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in the written statement to media Friday.
IN THE STATES
Minnesota
The Twin Cities rally that included A-list performers was expected to draw 100,000, the Minnesota Reformer reported.
The Minnesota event was a nationwide focus after the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge, which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called its largest immigration enforcement operation ever. Minnesota was the site of a plethora of documented violations of civil and constitutional rights, including the deaths of Good and Pretti.
Arkansas
In more rural, Republican-leaning areas, the demonstrations gave some protesters a sense of community.
“It feels almost unreal when you live in a community that is so red, and then you see everyone come together like this,” first-time protester Nadia Washburn of Stuttgart, Arkansas, told the Arkansas Advocate. “It makes you feel like your feelings are valid.”
Michigan
Democratic elected officials took part in several events, including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib in Detroit. Her emotionally charged speech criticized not only the actions of Trump and ICE but also Democrats who have not done enough to protect the community, the Michigan Advance reported.
Indiana
A rally at the Indiana Capitol attracted lifelong Democrats, former Republicans and independent voters who are disaffected with the two-party system in general and Trump in particular, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
Tennessee
In Nashville, which was the center of an ICE operation last year, several organizers spoke and mostly delivered strong messages against the immigration enforcement agency, the Tennessee Lookout reported.
Kansas
A demonstration in the Kansas City suburbs of Johnson County stretched 6 miles down a thoroughfare, the Kansas Reflector reported.
Pennsylvania
In addition to massive rallies in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, dozens of smaller demonstrations took place across the commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported.
Several hundred Pennsylvanians gathered in Reading, where ICE is planning to establish a 1,500-bed detention facility.
Nebraska
Many protesters in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, held anti-Trump signs or American flags, while others wore costumes, the Nebraska Examiner reported. Volunteers from different groups gathered signatures for ballot initiatives and at least one candidate.
New Hampshire
Crowds across the Granite State protested the administration and the war in Iran, the New Hampshire Bulletin reported.
Janet Adams, a former middle school science teacher from Woodstock, New Hampshire, said she attended her first rally Saturday because of concern for the young people in her life. At 74, she was frustrated with what she saw as a lack of progress, and cited the Iran war and “hate” in national politics as part of what made her concerned for the futures of her 10 grandchildren.
Iowa
Thousands of Iowans gathered at the state Capitol, protesting against Trump and Iowa Republicans for issues like the war in Iran, ICE action and discrimination against transgender Americans, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.
Maine
Many attendees at the Portland, Maine, protest expressed anger at Trump’s ongoing war on Iran, and his deportation efforts — which became much more real for many in Maine during a weeks-long surge in January — as well as the lack of action from Congress to deter him, the Maine Morning Star reported.
South Dakota
About 200 people showed up in South Dakota’s capital city of Pierre, one of a dozen rallies in the small, Republican-led state, including places such as Aberdeen, Vermillion and even White River, a town of just over 500 people, South Dakota Searchlight reported.
Idaho
Many speakers at the protest in Boise localized their frustrations with the Republican-dominated state Legislature over the latest in a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ bills and years of not changing the state’s strict abortion ban, even as doctors have left the state, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
North Carolina
Opposition to the Trump administration’s use of military force in Iran and Venezuela and threats against Cuba and Greenland dominated the protest, which lasted around three hours and blocked off traffic in downtown Durham, North Carolina, for much of the morning, NC Newsline reported.
West Virginia
A sea of protesters holding signs and American flags filled the space in front of the state Capitol in Charleston. They lined both sides of the street and chanted, “This is what democracy looks like.” Some drivers honked their support as they passed by, West Virginia Watch reported.
Illinois
A month after the death of prominent Chicagoan and civil right leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, a rainbow coalition of protesters — angered by the Trump administration’s policies and actions — flooded into Chicago’s Grant Park.
Kathy Tholin, chair of Indivisible Chicago, a progressive group that has been one of the chief organizers of the Chicago events, said the energy at the demonstrations needs to translate to votes at the midterms.
“The midterms are not just critically important to sending a message to those in power. But it’s one of the ways that we can actually get something done,” Tholin said. “We’re all building to that and voters are seeing that. There’s an election going on almost every month, and those elections show that people are coming out and tuning in.”
But not everyone who was in Grant Park Saturday is at odds with the Trump administration. Paul Chavez of Albuquerque, New Mexico, said he is a proud lifelong Democrat who “no matter what” he supports the president.
Chavez, a 57-year-old TSA employee, said people should unite around the unpaid airport workers at jam-packed hubs across the country. Funding TSA is the most nonpartisan thing that people can advocate for at the rallies, he said.
South Carolina
At the top of protesters’ minds in Columbia, South Carolina, were the war in Iran, the files released detailing the activities of Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges, and voting rights, especially with the proposal of the SAVE Act, which would create photo ID requirements nationwide for voters to prove they’re citizens, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore, who is being sued by the Trump administration for refusing to turn over the state’s voter rolls, defended that move to a crowd of about 20,000 in Providence, the Rhode Island Current reported.
Oregon
An estimated 30,000 people — down from the 40,000 who turned out in Portland for the second No Kings protest in October — were in downtown Portland on Saturday. More protests, not affiliated with No Kings, were expected later in the evening near the ICE facility south of downtown, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported.
Florida
No Kings marches attracted crowds even in conservative areas of the Sunshine State, the Florida Phoenix reported. The crowds appeared in cities with strong military presences like Pensacola and Jacksonville, and even deep-red Polk County, where Trump won by 21 points in the 2024 presidential election, saw an enthusiastic crowd of at least 2,000 people at Freedom Park in downtown Lakeland.
Montana
Following weeks of uncertainty as to whether the state would allow another large No Kings rally on the Montana Capitol steps, more than 1,000 people stood on the lawn as they protested what they said is creeping authoritarianism in the United States, the Daily Montanan reported. Event organizers scrambled as the state Department of Administration went back-and-forth on a blanket ban of weekend events at the Capitol that was eventually nixed after pressure from legislators and the public.
Alabama
Many protesters in cities and towns throughout Alabama cited Trump’s immigration policies and ICE’s detaining and deporting large numbers of people, the Alabama Reflector reported. Others expressed concerns about cuts to social safety net programs that were codified under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed last year. The legislation imposed about $186 billion in funding cuts over the next decade to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program meant to aid people by providing food.
Washington
Many of the thousands gathered in Olympia, Washington, waved signs touting a number of criticisms against the Trump administration: unlawful immigration enforcement, the war with Iran, the president’s appearance in the Epstein files, the death of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of immigration agents and anti-trans legislation, the Washington State Standard reported.
Fewer than 100 gathered at a counterprotest against Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson and a new income tax on those who earn more than $1 million.
New York
Smokey Sims of the Bronx said the protest “proves that America is tired of Trump’s stuff.”
Palazzolo, the former MAGA supporter from Staten Island, who became disillusioned with the Trump administration because of the war with Iran, said Trump had had gotten the country “knee-deep in this illegal war.”
He hasn’t found the congressional approval,” he said. “We’re further from peace and closer to catastrophe than ever before. I feel so betrayed.”
New Jersey
Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill appeared briefly at a rally in Princeton, N.J., the New Jersey Monitor reported. Trump’s immigration crackdown was top of mind for many protesters, with Saturday’s demonstrations coming just three days after Sherrill signed three new laws to strengthen protections for immigrants in the state and six weeks after she limited immigration enforcement operations on state property.
Kentucky
Jefferson County, Kentucky, Clerk David Yates, a Democrat who in March intervened in a federal lawsuit in hopes of blocking the U.S. Department of Justice from gaining access to Kentuckians’ sensitive voter data, told a Louisville crowd: “I will not be bullied; I will not be intimidated,” the Kentucky Lantern reported.
Stateline reporters Robbie Sequeira and Shalina Chatlani contributed to this report.
Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
As No Kings protests grow, a bigger question looms: What comes next?
BY: ANNA CLAIRE VOLLERS - MARCH 27, 2026 2:44 PM
Thousands of protests are scheduled across the United States on Saturday as part of the “No Kings” movement opposing President Donald Trump’s administration.
Organizers expect millions of people to turn out for this third round of No Kings demonstrations, with more than 3,000 local-level events mapped on the movement’s official website.
Previous No Kings protests, held in June and October of 2025, were among the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history, according to Harvard University’s Crowd Counting Consortium, a data project that documents political protests and other demonstrations around the country.
Driving the No Kings movement at the national level are prominent progressive organizations, including Indivisible, 50501 and MoveOn. But demonstrations are organized at the local level by coalitions of hundreds of progressive groups that run the gamut from civil rights organizations to labor unions, religious communities to nonprofits dedicated to issues such as education, climate, gun control and immigration.
“People are angrier. Our numbers are growing and we’re really widening the tent of people that are going to stand up to a consolidation of authoritarian power,” said Hannah Stauss, one of the organizers of New York City’s No Kings protest. “Every time that (Trump) attacks, we get to reach a new section of people that are ready to stand with us.”
Top Republican leaders, after dismissing last year’s No Kings protests as “hate America” rallies backed by “radical leftists,” have remained mostly silent ahead of these latest scheduled protests.
But as the weekend promises massive crowds and spectacle across the nation, political observers and protesters alike wonder whether the demonstrations signal a coming wave of change at the polls, or whether momentum will fizzle after the crowds go home.
Democrats and other progressives are good at mobilizing people for large-scale protests, note some experts, but they’ve been less successful than conservatives in recent years at building the kind of local infrastructure needed to effect sweeping policy changes.
To that end, as No Kings enters its second year, organizers are looking for ways to connect the disparate groups that have united under the No Kings banner. Indivisible and other national organizers have offered training, online tools and other assistance that extends beyond the protests.
“There’s this traditional critique of protests or rallies, that single-day events don’t do much and don’t connect people to action,” said Salvador Espinoza, a board member of Hands Off Central Texas, a progressive nonprofit that’s one of the main organizers of Austin’s No Kings event. “So we consciously took steps to change the shape of how those events are structured, starting with the second No Kings, and now with No Kings 3.”
A sense of momentum
Trump’s approval rating this month is the lowest it’s been since his reelection. His administration is governing amid national and global upheaval that includes an unpopular war with Iran, an immigration crackdown that nearly two-thirds of Americans view as excessive, spiking gas prices and continued fallout related to the Jeffrey Epstein files.
“The No Kings protests are a powerful way to explain that the way President Trump has behaved is just out of step with the way presidents have behaved historically,” said Dan Greenberg, a senior legal fellow at the conservative-leaning Cato Institute.
No Kings is not an organization itself, but the movement’s protests are supported by national progressive groups, such as Indivisible, that solicit donations to provide training, digital tools and marketing help. In 2023, Indivisible received a two-year, $3 million grant from the Open Society Foundations, which funds a variety of groups that support democracy and human rights. It was founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, long a bête noire of conservatives.
A nonprofit called Home of the Brave is running a $1 million ad campaign in hundreds of newspapers nationwide to promote the event. Meanwhile, local groups provide their own grassroots-level organizational support, such as event logistics and volunteer coordination.
Past No Kings events have included big-city marches with tens of thousands of attendees as well as small-town demonstrations with just a handful of protesters. They’ve taken place in staunchly Democratic states as well as ruby-red Republican strongholds.
In Fairfield County, Connecticut, this year, a progressive group called REBs is planning a costumed line dance along a four-lane highway in Wilton.
In Austin, Texas, organizers are expecting tens of thousands at a downtown rally that will include live music, art and performances.
And in Red Oak, Iowa, Jenny Horner expects at least 50 people to show up to protest in her small, conservative farming community. Horner is a Spanish teacher and immigrant advocate who’s scheduled to speak at her hometown event.
“I’ve never in my life thought there would be so many issues at any given moment that are horrendous, that are scary, that need addressing,” she said. “But here we are.”
Expanding power
The idea and the anger behind the No Kings protests stem from the belief that Trump is governing as though Congress and the courts should be subservient to the president rather than being co-equal branches of the government, said Shannon O’Brien, a political scientist and associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies American presidents.
She doesn’t like referring to his behavior as “kinglike” because she believes the term can be hyperbolic and inflammatory. But, she said, Trump has worked to expand the power of the government’s executive branch and pushed the boundaries of the Constitution’s system of checks and balances.
“We have an executive who does not believe in the constraint of guardrails, and I think he does believe that the bureaucracy exists to serve him rather than the American people,” O’Brien said.
And some of Trump’s actions have jarred Americans, calling to mind the trappings of monarchy or dictatorship, such as hanging massive banners with his face on the facades of U.S. government buildings or seeking to rename public buildings after himself.
“It’s grotesque in the way that an American king is grotesque, to have someone eager to get his name plastered all over these government buildings,” said Greenberg, of the conservative Cato Institute. “We think of it as kingly behavior, not presidential behavior.”
O’Brien also noted the belief, propagated by his supporters and some in his government, that Trump has been divinely “anointed” or ordained, or that his decisions, such as going to war with Iran, are blessed by God. It’s the kind of belief that underpins monarchies.
That thinking, she said, leads “down that slippery slope of royalty, of infallibility, being blessed by God and being the chosen one.”
Lasting impact
The first No Kings event in Austin, Texas, last June was a traditional rally on the steps of the state Capitol. But the biggest takeaway afterward, said Espinoza, was that organizers felt they could have done more to push rallygoers toward the next step of getting more deeply involved in a cause they care about. With the second No Kings event, and with the third on Saturday, they’re hosting a traditional protest march from City Hall to a large outdoor venue that will have speakers and performers, but will also be packed with booths from local progressive groups.
“We built a garden of opportunities so everybody could find the organization that matched their values,” said Espinoza. “From mutual aid to civil rights, students and young people, labor, LGBTQ+ groups. The goal in changing the events was about connection and action.”
In Huntsville, Alabama, a midsize city in the northern part of the state, No Kings organizers plan to group attendees by neighborhood at the rally on Saturday, so that people can start to build their own networks around local issues.
We want people to know that they don’t have to wait on us to organize.
– Brittney Whitehead, vice chair of the Huntsville, Ala., Indivisible chapter
Attendees are encouraged to write the name of their neighborhood on their protest signs so it’s easier to find each other.
“We want people to know that they don’t have to wait on us to organize,” said Brittney Whitehead, vice chair of her local Indivisible chapter. She said that while Indivisible would love more volunteers, the group primarily wants to help people connect and organize around any local issues that matter to them.
“They can organize themselves, and they can do so more quickly than waiting for us to get to them, so we’re going to look to make connections and networks through all of our neighborhoods, as well as gather them all together in a larger network.”
She said that since Trump’s inauguration, her chapter of Indivisible has seen an increase in the number of people volunteering with it and its coalition groups, which include get-out-the-vote organizations, civil and disability rights advocates and Indigenous groups.
More volunteers have signed up for political canvassing after the upcoming state primaries, she said. Others are joining local groups that track immigration incidents.
Horner, in Iowa, hopes the No Kings protests won’t echo the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011 — a progressive movement with lots of spectacle but few lasting changes. She remembers it as being a “fractured” movement without strong consensus on how to solve problems.
“I wonder if we can do something like Occupy Wall Street, but this time have it not be fractured, so that it can actually get the traction it needs, and get staying power and grow,” she said.
Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@stateline.org.
Anna Claire Vollers covers health care for Stateline. She is based in Huntsville, Alabama.
