COLUMBIA — Several thousand people gathered outside the South Carolina Statehouse to oppose President Donald Trump and his administration as part of a national No Kings protest.
Most of the rallygoers also marched from the Statehouse to the Governor’s Mansion and back — 1 mile each way — to protest the Republican governor who was one of Trump’s earliest backers.
The rally drew even more people than the one in June, which coincided with Trump’s birthday and Flag Day, said organizer Sam Gibbons of West Columbia. Similar demonstrations took place in cities across the state, including Greenville, which were among more than 2,600 planned nationwide.
Protesters remained peaceful as they chanted and carried signs down Columbia’s Main Street.
Police blocked off intersections and streets to keep incoming traffic away, but few uniformed officers patrolled the demonstration itself, and no confrontations arose, either at the protest in Columbia or at Falls Park in Greenville.
At issue for protesters was a wide variety of the Trump administration’s policies, including recent waves of deportations, federal cuts to health care research and what they considered moves away from democracy.
Attention turned to statewide issues as well.
Gibbons, a state liaison for national group 50501, urged attendees to vote in every election, including local ones, and show up to meetings at the Statehouse on contentious bills, such as the nearly total abortion ban scheduled for a second hearing next month.
Local demonstrations are also important in continuing to press for change, Gibbons said.
“Protests do matter,” the 34-year-old told the thousands gathered. “They may not immediately change policy or culture, but they can stir something within your soul.”
The crowd stood outside the gate of the Governor’s Mansion for about 15 minutes and chanted, “Henry Mac has got to go,” a shortening of Gov. Henry McMaster’s name.
McMaster, South Carolina’s longest-serving elected governor, was the first statewide official to back Trump ahead of South Carolina’s 2016 first-in-the-South GOP presidential primary. Then the lieutenant governor, McMaster ascended to governor in January 2017 when Trump picked Nikki Haley to be his first United Nations ambassador.
McMaster, who went on to win two full terms and can’t run again, has been a staunch Trump supporter ever since.
Gibbons then swapped in names of other Republican politicians, including Attorney General Alan Wilson and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace. Both are among five Republicans who have announced bids to replace McMaster in 2026. It’s been 27 years since voters elected a Democrat to the office.
No one came out from the Governor’s Mansion to address the crowd.
Change can come from persistent protests, said the Rev. Susie Smith of Clemson, a former pastor at Peace Congregational Church and a longtime activist.
She pointed to the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds as one example. For years, Smith was among those who sat around the flag on Saturdays and called for its removal. Legislators voted to take it down in 2015 after the hate-fueled massacre of nine people at a historic Black church in Charleston, known at Mother Emanuel, including its pastor, Sen. Clementa Pinckney. But Smith attributed its removal at least in part to calls from activists.
“Sometimes, it takes a crowd like you showing up week after week after week,” Smith said, to the cheering of the crowd.
In a red state like South Carolina, showing politicians that many people disagree with them and their policies is especially important, said Libby Davis. The 21-year-old from Columbia, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said she hoped the turnout Saturday showed a widespread discontent with Trump.
Trump won South Carolina with more than 58% of the vote last November. The nearly 18-percentage point win over Vice President Kamala Harris marked his widest lead of the last three presidential elections. He took South Carolina’s electoral votes in 2020 with a 12-point lead and in 2016 by a 14-point win.
The name of Saturday’s protest and many of the signs opposed what attendees view as a lack of checks and balances in the federal government, which they say makes the administration akin to a monarchy.
“This crown should be the only crown in America,” Davis said, pointing to the crown on her own head, which mirrored the one atop the statue in New York City.
Dietician Deb Waldron joined thousands at Falls Park in Greenville because she was concerned about cuts to the National Institutes of Health, she said.
“(Health Secretary) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is anti-vax, which is dangerous to Americans,” Waldron said. “He’s cutting science and medical research.”
Kennedy’s slogan is Make America Healthy Again, but Waldron contends the opposite is happening.
Thy Nguyen, a 19-year-old whose family moved to Columbia from Vietnam five years ago, said she loved America and hates seeing some of Trump’s changes. In particular, she worries about tariffs causing prices to rise and people getting deported, she said.
Nguyen added she’s not worried about her own presence in the country, but she worries about the country’s future.
“I got my citizenship for a reason,” Nguyen said. “Ain’t no way that (Trump) ruins this.”
Sitting apart from the main body of the Greenville rally in the shade, Connor Roper, 22, a transgender man, and his two friends said they came to the protest to support transgender rights. The three expressed concern about anti-transgender legislation and the Trump administration’s harsh rhetoric.
Roper said he had considered leaving the country.
“I grew up here and it’s been scary,” Roper said. “I’m not blind to how transgender people are treated here, but I still love the area. The writing on the wall is pretty plain, but I don’t want to have to emigrate. I don’t want to leave my grandma. I don’t know how much time she has left.”
Several protesters dressed in a variety of costumes, including a unicorn and a hippo. Greenville resident Kelly Foster attended the rally dressed as a nun.
“I don’t think things are going well with this administration and I’m fearful that things will get worse,” she said.
Foster said she chose a nun’s costume to promote peace.
