Hundreds marched across the Arlington Memorial Bridge to the No Kings day rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans packed streets, parks and town squares across the United States Saturday for No Kings day, according to the organizers of the massive day of demonstrations protesting President Donald Trump’s administration — from his deployment of troops to cities to his targeting of political opponents.

Thousands upon thousands showed up for the second organized No Kings day in America’s largest cities like Atlanta, New York City and Chicago, to smaller metro areas and towns including Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Bismarck, North Dakota; and Hammond, Louisiana. More than 2,600 nonviolent demonstrations were planned.

By Saturday evening, it appeared most protests were peaceful, with a handful of isolated scuffles reported across the country.

In a separate demonstration in Portland, Oregon, federal officers on the roof of the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building shot pepper balls at protestors. No Kings organizers said they were not involved in activities at the ICE facility, which has been the center of weeks of protests.

The first No Kings day coincided with Trump’s military parade that occurred on his 79th birthday in June. 

Demonstrators decried Trump’s dispatch of National Guard troops to several U.S. cities, as well as ongoing immigration crackdowns in Los Angeles, the nation’s capital, Portland, Oregon, and Chicago and where U.S. citizens have been swept up in raids.

Ben Grimes, of Northern Virginia, who said he spent two decades in the U.S. Army piloting helicopters and working as a military lawyer, held a sign bearing the message “I Served America Not Autocracy.” 

Grimes stood among tens of thousands of demonstrators who stretched down several blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue at the Washington, D.C., No Kings day event.

“We’re sliding very rapidly into autocracy and lawlessness,” said the 52-year-old veteran, whose career included a deployment to Baghdad. 

“Just about everything has worried me, but I am particularly concerned about the use of the deployment of military troops in the U.S. and the apparent lawless killing of civilians in the Caribbean,” Grimes said.

Peggy and Ken Greco donned clown costumes, and displayed a sign that read “Elect a Clown Expect a Circus.”

The couple drove from Augusta, Georgia, to attend the D.C. rally.

“We came because we feel very powerless about what’s going on, and we have to do something,” Peggy, 69, said, becoming emotional.

 In Chicago, Grant Park filled with thousands of people carrying symbols of repudiation of the Trump administration, particularly U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from anti-ICE signs to posters satirizing the president.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, also called on the crowd to be united and speak out. 

“Democracy requires your courage, and tyranny requires good people doing nothing … and it fails when ordinary people refuse to cooperate and they say, ‘no kings’ and mean it,” Pritzker said. 

Thousands of people gathered in Times Square in Manhattan for New York City’s No Kings day peaceful 1.6-mile march down 7th Avenue.

Silas Perez, 21, who lives in the Bronx, said she “wants to fight for our rights while we still have them.” 

“They want to say ‘Make America Great Again.’ It was better before,” Perez said. “This is worse.” 

Jacob Chansley, known to most as the “Q Shaman,” spoke to the Arizona Mirror about why he was at Saturday’s No Kings event at the state capitol in Phoenix.

“For me it has always been about protecting the American people,” Chansley said, dressed in the same garb and holding the spear he had at the Capitol on January 6. 

He denied the events of January 6 were an insurrection and said it was “staged by the government” and pointed to a sign he was holding when asked what brought him out to the rally. His sign made references to the Epstein files and criticisms of Israel.

In Lexington, Kentucky, protester Gracia O’Brien, 71, said, “I’m old, and I’ve never been scared for our democracy. I am now.” 

In Fargo, North Dakota, Ken Opheim showed up in a red hat but with an anti-Trump message: Quid Pro Quo Trump Must Go. “Everything he does, he gets something back for himself,” Opheim said.

Lawmakers, activists and celebrities spoke at rallies across the country — Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in Atlanta, actor John Cusack in Chicago, Bill Nye “the Science Guy” in Washington, D.C. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Chris Murphy of Connecticut also spoke to the massive crowd in the nation’s capital.

“He has not won yet, the people still rule in this country,” Murphy, a Democrat, said. “Trump thinks that he’s a king, and he thinks he can act more corruptly when the government is shut down.”

The protesters took to the streets during the ongoing government shutdown to question Trump’s actions since he took office for his second presidential term on Jan. 20.

Trump revamped his legally questionable mass firing of federal workers on Oct. 10, this time against the backdrop of the nearly three-week government funding lapse. 

Amid the shutdown, Trump this past week authorized a $40 billion bailout for Argentina. The administration also continues to amass defense resources along the coast of Venezuela and carry out extrajudicial strikes on alleged drug running boats in the Caribbean Sea, killing dozens.

Repeatedly, Trump has threatened to use the shutdown as an opportunity to permanently cut “Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans” by canceling funding already appropriated by Congress.

A member of his own party, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said the Government Accountability Office should sue the for his administration’s illegal impoundment of funds already written into law — something he began to do long before the shutdown.

Since January, Trump has canceled billions in foreign aid, medical research, natural disaster assistance, and funding for museums and libraries, early childhood education and energy efficiency programs for K-12 schools.

Trump’s use of power was on full display when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act in March and defied a federal judge’s order by sending hundreds of immigrants, many without due process, to a mega-prison in El Salvador. The mistakenly deported Kilmar Arego Garcia became the face of Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

Nearly 300 partner organizations signed on to the nonviolent No Kings day, from local- and state-level groups to large national liberal advocacy bodies and labor unions, including the ACLU, Common Cause, Indivisible, the League of Women Voters and SEIU.

 

Trump was not in Washington during the rally. He left the White House Friday afternoon to spend the weekend at his Florida residence and was at his golf course on Saturday, according to the White House press corps traveling with the president.

Republicans have characterized the No Kings event as anti-American. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana recently described the event on Fox News as a “hate America rally,” claiming “it’s all the pro-Hamas wing and the antifa people.”

Trump declared “antifa” as a “domestic terrorist organization” last month, despite the fact that such a group does not exist. “Antifa,” shorthand for anti-fascist, is an ideology disapproving of fascist governance.  He also issued a directive targeting progressive organizations, including Indivisible, according to a list the White House provided to Reuters.

IN THE STATES

West Virginia

Protesters turn out en masse against Trump during No Kings protest at West Virginia Capitol, West Virginia Watch reports.

Hundreds of protesters descended on the West Virginia capitol to speak out against detainments by ICE, potential federal cuts to health care programs, social safety nets and more that would largely impact already vulnerable people. 

Oklahoma

Over 1,000 gather in Oklahoma City as part of nationwide No Kings protests, the Oklahoma Voice reports.

More than 1,000 people braved the rain in Oklahoma City, donning ponchos and inflatable costumes to join a protest outside City Hall. Many signs and speakers focused on anger with Trump’s deportation campaign, failure to release evidence in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Florida sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the conflict in Gaza. 

Arkansas

Hundreds gather in Little Rock for second No Kings rally, annual LGBTQ+ Pride festivities, the Arkansas Advocate reports.

In downtown Little Rock, the No Kings protest coincided with annual Pride celebrations. Hundreds of Arkansans marched down Capitol Avenue to protest Trump’s administration and to celebrate LGBTQ+ Arkansans.

New Hampshire 

Second No Kings protest draws thousands in New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Bulletin reports.

Granite Staters who took to the streets in Concord said concerns about health care, immigration, racism, disability rights, free speech and more motivated them to join the capital’s No Kings protest.

Chicago

Alongside Pritzker in Grant Park, Mayor Brandon Johnson condemned Trump over recent immigration enforcement and compared the president’s deployment of troops to the city to the Civil War, Stateline reported.

“There are those in this country that have decided, at the behest of this president, to declare war on Chicago and American cities across this country,’’ Johnson, a Democrat, said. “They have clearly decided that they want a rematch of the Civil War.”

Johnson vowed that he would stand committed and would not bend to what he described as authoritarian moves by the administration. 

Virginia

Thousands flood Richmond streets for No Kings rally in protest of Trump administration, the Virginia Mercury reports. 

Organizers said over 10,000 people participated in the Richmond event. Families of all ages and backgrounds held signs, donned costumes, and sang pro-America songs at the Capitol before marching down Broad Street. 

The Richmond protest featured speakers highlighting federal workers’ interrupted paychecks because of the shutdown, as well as their fear of the rise of fascism.

Indiana

‘Not pawns’: Thousands of Hoosiers turn out for No Kings protests, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reports.

A thick sea of Hoosiers flooded the Indiana Statehouse’s lawn for hours on Saturday — raising defiant fists and signs. Among the issues the crowd focused on were deportation policy, health care cuts and the belief that Trump is an authoritarian.

New York City

As in other cities, many demonstrators wore inflatable animal and fruit costumes, Stateline reports. Many also held elaborate handmade signs with messages such as “Trump must go now!” Others banged on drums or played music to rally the crowd.

Democratic New York City Comptroller Brad Lander told Stateline that state and local lawmakers need to stand up to a government that isn’t abiding by one of its founding principles — no taxation without representation. 

“The federal government is collecting our taxes and not giving it back to us for services or infrastructure,’” Lander said. “So one thing state legislatures can be thinking about is ‘where are we pooling our money, before we give it to Washington?’”

Tennessee

Across Tennessee, No Kings protesters push back on Trump administration policies, the Tennessee Lookout reports.

Rallies occurred in 33 Tennessee towns and cities, including Memphis, where National Guard troops and agents from a federal task force have deployed. The Memphis demonstration took place one day after Shelby County officials, including Mayor Lee Harris, and state lawmakers from Memphis filed suit against Gov. Bill Lee over what they allege is unconstitutional deployment of Tennessee National Guard troops to the city.

Iowa

Iowans criticize GOP representatives, Trump at Des Moines No Kings demonstration, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. 

Democratic state lawmakers, union organizers, immigrant advocates and teachers in Des Moines decried Trump’s and Republicans’ policies. Speakers also emphasized Iowa will play a vital role in putting a check on Trump’s power in the 2026 election, and encouraged Iowans to vote and stay politically engaged. 

Maine

Thousands across Maine protest against Trump administration in second No Kings day, the Maine Morning Star reports.

Exactly 250 years to the day after the British attacked what is now Portland, Maine, during the Revolutionary War, thousands gathered in the city and across the state to declare the same thing Americans fought for then: no kings.

In Portland, participation nearly doubled Saturday from June’s protest. New attendees said they decided to show up because they feel the country has reached an untenable state, but speeches at the protests showed continued hope for change.  

Florida

Florida crowds throng to denounce Trump, ‘fascism’ on No Kings Day, the Florida Phoenix reports.

In Miami, an estimated 5,000 people clad in American flags, golden crowns, and frog and Sasquatch costumes flooded Bayfront Park to chant against Trump. The event was held in front of the Torch of Friendship, a 1960 monument built as a beacon to welcome immigrants.

One disruption hit the Miami gathering when Barry Ramey and another member of the far-right group the Proud Boys briefly showed up to counter-protest. Ramey was one of the men sentenced for rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. City police quickly formed an escort to safely lead them out, as angry anti-Trump protesters screamed Spanish expletives at them.

New Mexico

Thousands protest in Santa Fe, Albuquerque for No Kings day, Source New Mexico reports.

Marchers in Santa Fe chanted a variety of messages, including: “No Kings/No ICE” and “This is what democracy looks like.” One man played the David Bowie/Queen song “Under Pressure” repeatedly from a small speaker.

Idaho

Thousands of Idahoans turn out for Boise’s anti-Trump No Kings protest at state Capitol building, the Idaho Capital Sun reports.

Thousands of people protested against Trump and government overreach at the Idaho capitol in Boise. American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho board member Sam Linnet spoke out against what he said is a government that is using fear to divide the American people. 

Rhode Island

No Kings but lots of people with something to stand for outside Rhode Island State House, the Rhode Island Current reports.

A diversity of animal costumes was among the crowd in Providence, as were a variety of people from all ages and backgrounds. 

Three teenagers perched at the feet of Nathanael Greene, a general in George Washington’s army who, in statue form, continues to look over the city from the base of the State House steps. The Democratic Socialists of America had set up an information booth underneath a tree’s shade. A woman who declined to be interviewed sported an outfit with Beanie Baby cats attached, and a sign that read “Cat ladies against Trump.”

Ohio

Thousands of No Kings protesters stage peaceful demonstration at Ohio Statehouse, the Ohio Capital Journal reports.

Alabama

‘We’ve got to do something:’ Thousands attend ‘No Kings’ protests in Alabama, the Alabama Reflector reports.

About 15 protests were scheduled around Alabama. Speakers and participants criticized the administration’s seizure of power, its arrest and detention of immigrants and its health care policies. Others said Trump administration policies were hurting members of their families. Crowd sizes varied, from about 40 people in Selma to up to 2,000 in Birmingham.

New Jersey

Thousands protest Donald Trump at New Jersey No Kings rallies, the New Jersey Monitor reports.

New Jersey residents took their rage — and ridicule — to the streets, with some wearing silly costumes to push back on critics’ claims that protesters are violent, anti-American extremists.

Minnesota

Thousands gather in downtown Minneapolis for anti-Trump rally, the Minnesota Reformer reports.

People told the Reformer they were there to fight for democracy against the threat of what they say is Trump’s overreach, including deploying the National Guard to cities, deporting immigrants without due process and cutting off federal funds to Democratic states. 

Protestors carried signs decrying authoritarianism — “No Kings, No Fascists” — and condemning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — “I like my democracy neat. Hold the ICE.” 

North Carolina

Thousands gather for No Kings protest in Raleigh to condemn Trump, North Carolina Newsline reports.

From noon to 3 p.m., cars and trucks in Raleigh were honking their support for a No Kings protest that lined both sides of a divided highway, drawing thousands of demonstrators frustrated with the Trump administration. The mood was light despite the serious issues raised, with many wearing colorful costumes and playing cheery tunes.

Montana

Small towns in Montana rally for ‘No Kings,’ the Daily Montanan reports.

Montanans turned out in traditionally red communities, such as Dillon, population roughly 4,000, and they gathered in tiny outposts such as Polebridge, on the edge of Glacier National Park, which almost saw more demonstrators than full-time residents. Most of the people who turned out to demonstrate appeared to be those who had already opposed Trump.

Demonstrators said they rallied to show support for democracy, for the U.S. Constitution, for civil liberties, for federal workers, for immigrants, for their own grandchildren, for health care, for the proper use of military troops, and for science and research.

Kansas

Small No Kings event puts love ahead of politics in rural Kansas town where immigrants are detained, the Kansas Reflector reports.

Kay Krause of Cottonwood Falls hosted a “love in action” rally at her house. The gathering of 13 in the rural town of about 800 people was among the smallest of the 42 No Kings events that were planned across the state as part of a nationwide uprising.

Krause’s event was different because it focused on kindness rather than the anger toward the Trump administration. Trump won about 75% of the Chase County votes in last year’s election.

Nebraska

Protesters gather around Nebraska Capitol for No Kings protest, the Nebraska Examiner reports.

Protesters held anti-Trump signs criticizing the callousness of the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts and cuts to federal services. Some chanted for Trump “to go.” Some protesters said they were happy with the turnout, citing frustrations over the president’s deployment of the National Guard to Democratic-led cities and attacks on transgender rights as frustrations.

Missouri

No Kings rallies draw thousands across Missouri, bolster initiative petition campaigns, the Missouri Independent reports.

Thousands gathered in cities and towns all over Missouri Saturday at No Kings demonstrations to speak up against the many ways they believe Trump’s and Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s administrations are a threat to democracy. 

A St. Louis protester said he was appalled by Missouri’s new congressional map, which he called nothing but a “power grab.”

Michigan

Demonstrators amplify growing fear of Trump autocracy during Michigan-wide No Kings rallies, the Michigan Advance reports.

More than 100 communities from southeast Michigan to the westernmost part of the Upper Peninsula joined in a show of might to advocate for civil rights, democracy and the rule of law. 

In Lansing, security for the protest was pronounced, with several state police in tactical gear and road patrol uniforms on the lookout for threats. As the crowd grew, cars and trucks driving by honked in support throughout the event. Some waved flags, held up signs or played loud music, and most were met with cheers and applause from demonstrators along North Capitol Avenue.

Maryland

On Eastern Shore, in Baltimore, across the state, thousands turn out for No Kings, Maryland Matters reports.

Rallies in Baltimore and Centreville were just two of more than 60 events scheduled in Maryland, from Ocean City to LaVale and from Northeast to Lexington Park and scores of points in between.

They were in big cities like Baltimore and small towns like Centreville. They were in deep blue counties like Montgomery, which had more than a dozen events scheduled, to deep red counties like Carroll, where one event was scheduled for the County Government Building in Westminster for those willing to brave it.

South Carolina

Thousands rally at SC Statehouse during nationwide No Kings protest, South Carolina Daily Gazette reports.

In Columbia, protesters’ top issues included 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. 

Alex Baumhardt, Jerold MacDonald-Evoy, Shalina Chatlani, Robbie Sequeira, Jeff Beach and Jamie Lucke contributed to this report.