‘No Kings’ protests: Local USA TODAY Network
From Tallahassee to Akron, USA TODAY Network participated in “No Kings” protests across the country.
More than 3,100 events are planned across the United States to protest President Donald Trump’s actions and policies, and organizers expect No Kings protests to bring millions of Americans to the streets on March 28.
The past two No King protests have drawn large crowds, and organizers hope this event will be the largest day of protests in U.S. history.
The ACLU estimated that the original June 2025 Nor Kings protests drew about 5 million people across 1,800 events, and the October 2025 demonstrations drew 7 million people to 2,500 events. The ACLU’s estimates of June 2025 protests were consistent with findings from Harvard University’s Crowd Measurement Consortium.
Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg said organizers expect people to protest for a variety of reasons, from immigration enforcement to impeachment. The important thing is for them to get out and make connections, she said. Indivisible is also one of the organizers.
“There are people who are coming out because they are outraged by the treatment of their neighbors and attacks on immigrants. There are people who are coming out because they are deeply concerned about the Trump administration’s attack on civil rights. There are people who are coming out because they are scared of the war,” Greenberg said. “Instead of trying to make specific policy demands or a specific policy platform, we want to come together.”
Robert Wiseman, co-director of Public Citizen, said that since the No Hands protests, the first large-scale protests of President Trump’s second term, occurred a year ago, some Americans have refused to give in to what they say is the administration’s plan to instill fear.
“The people really refuse to give in to fear and are finding strength in collective action and solidarity,” he said.
No Kings organizers have built a coalition that spans labor, progressive activists, civil rights groups, and faith leaders. In addition to civil society organizations such as Indivisible and Public Citizen, host organizations include long-standing activist groups such as MoveOn, Human Rights Campaign, Women’s March, and Working Families Power, as well as multiple labor unions and grassroots groups formed after Election Day 2024, such as 50501.
The name “No Kings” stems from organizers’ belief that President Trump is behaving more like a monarch than a democratic leader. Organizers say people should come to protest no matter what they think about the Trump administration, as a third day of protests was announced after an immigration crackdown reached its peak in Minneapolis, where immigration agents killed two Americans overseeing the arrests.
When asked to comment on the No Kings protests, White House press secretary Abigail Jackson said, “The only people who care about Trump’s confusion therapy sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.”
Beverly Harvey, founder of Indivisible Kansas City, told USA TODAY that it doesn’t matter why people go to protests, but if they don’t like what the administration is doing, they can participate.
“This is a huge list of things he’s done. So pick something, pick anything you want,” she said.
Protests are planned in large cities, suburbs and small towns across the country. Since the beginning of President Trump’s second term, organizers have focused on holding protests that are easy to attend, rather than a few large protests that require traveling far to participate. They say this not only helps build a larger network of supporters, but also makes it harder to deny that people everywhere are upset enough to protest.
Greenberg said any new demonstrations will lead to local organizing. She says between 20 and 50 new Indivisible groups are created every week.
“Fundamentally, we are not aiming for maximum daily records. We are aiming for as many citizens as possible to continuously participate in civic activities,” she said. “We think we’re not going to get out of this mess unless more people in every part of this country collectively own their homes and build power.”
twin city
After months at the center of an immigration crackdown that saw thousands of people take to the streets to challenge police, Minnesota’s Twin Cities will host a major protest featuring local politicians and musicians Bruce Springsteen, Maggie Rogers and Joan Baez. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and actress Jane Fonda.
The march begins at three locations and converges on the state capitol to hear concerts and speakers. Lisa Elbes, 69, co-leader of Indivisible Twin Cities, said she expects the march and protest at the state Capitol to be larger than the 150,000 people who attended the Nor Kings protests in October.
She said the rally, which will include nationally known speakers, is about local residents who came out and tried to protect their neighbors.
“We want to highlight the people of the Twin Cities who have really done a great job of coming together as a community during the pandemic. So we want to highlight some of the people who were out there working hard every day and sacrificing significant time,” she said.
The Twin Cities’ pushback against the Trump administration’s massive immigration enforcement efforts included extensive efforts to care for left behind and hidden families, including coordinated patrols to warn neighbors of ICE movements and community efforts to help with food deliveries and rent payments. Two activists who were monitoring ICE operations were shot and killed by immigration officers.
Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin said one of the main reasons Twin Cities is a flagship event is because it was so inspiring to see how people organized to care for their neighbors.
“This is a real demonstration of what we need to see across this country. It’s not even primarily political. It’s just neighborly love. People linking arms across ideologies simply because they don’t like what they see and want to be part of fixing it,” he said.
Elbes said participation in local advocacy efforts spiked after the federal government sent 3,000 immigration agents to the area to make mass arrests of illegal immigrants.
“People had a strong desire to become more active, so just participating in protests was not enough. They wanted more than that,” she said.
In response, shortly after the second NoKing protest, many local organizations began training people on how to legally monitor immigration enforcement efforts, anticipating that Minneapolis would be the next big target.
Even though the number of immigration officers has been reduced and enforcement has moved to rural and suburban areas, people are still patrolling, making arrests and monitoring detention facilities, she said.
continue to grow
Harvey, 69, said he expected more than 20,000 people to gather for the rally and march in downtown Kansas City for a variety of reasons, including immigration enforcement and the war on Iran.
About 5,000 people attended Kansas City’s first Nor-Kings rally, and that number rose to nearly 18,000 at Nor-Kings in October, she said.
“People are tired of what’s going on,” she told USA TODAY. “It’s really heartening to know that there are thousands of like-minded people who want to save democracy.”
And they continue to socialize between protests, she said. Kansas City currently has multiple Indivisible chapters, which frequently hold pop-up protests, wave signs on overpasses, and hold educational rallies.
“A lot of it is actually getting out there and educating people about what’s going on,” she said. “There are a lot of people who still support him, and a lot of them are watching fake news and propaganda.”
“Searching for Activists’ Homes”
Marcia Schneider, 70, one of the organizers in Portland, Oregon, said she expected more than 60,000 people to participate in the march, which would gather along the city’s waterfront.
Over the past year, she said, Portland and surrounding cities have rejected President Trump’s plan to increase immigration enforcement and deploy the National Guard over the state’s objections. Schneider said the number of Indivisible chapters in the county has tripled.
“People are starting to find a place for activists…The networks we’ve built are really starting to take off,” Schneider said. “That’s how we get through it.”
not alone
The first protest, organized by Kurt Reinhart, 53, in Miles City, Montana, last April drew 20 people. They were frustrated that Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy was speaking at local high schools but not holding public town hall meetings.
The group in the state’s 11th largest city organized and grew in number. Approximately 130 people attended the second No Kings rally held in October 2025. Reinhart expects a similar turnout, if not more, outside the Custer County Courthouse this weekend.
More than 20 protests are scheduled for March 28 in Montana, which Reinhardt said is “a significant number of people for a red state.”
But he said he feels it’s especially important in a small place like Miles City.
“Especially in a community like this, it can feel really isolated and lonely. It can be depressing and make you feel like you don’t have a voice, which can be even more stressful and negative,” Reinhardt said. “So these events provide an opportunity to remind people that they are not alone, that there are people who share their concerns, and that there are people who have the courage to come out and sit on the streets.”
Until last year, the town of about 8,400 people in red-hot Montana had never seen a single protest in the 20 years Reinhardt had lived there.
“It’s important to remember that even if one person sends out a message, it’s a reminder to people that things aren’t actually right,” he said.
Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY’s senior national political correspondent, can be reached at swire@usatoday.com.
