Organizers launched more than 2,500 No Kings events across all 50 states and the District of Columbia Saturday, this time focusing their efforts on the midterm elections.

From roadside rallies to letter-writing campaigns and protest songs, this round of demonstrations aimed to get people to the polls early.  

In the bustling and diverse neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens, where Bangladeshi street vendors whip up fuska – crispy, potato-filled shells – and Mexican taquerías serve up al pastor and carne asada, volunteers gathered at a popular local restaurant called The Queensboro. The organizers are part of the Jackson Heights chapter of Indivisible, one of the many grassroots organizations that have made No Kings demonstrations happen. 

Arianne Mayer, 49, cofounded the chapter about two years ago after President Donald Trump was elected to his second term. On this “No Kings: Vote Early Day of Action”, she hands out pens and paper to volunteers to write letters to voters in battleground states, encouraging them to get out and cast their ballots as early as possible. 

“The practice of mobilization of bodies is really helpful, especially in New York City, where you’re trying to mobilize many thousands of people,” Mayer said. “When you see those thousands of marches, you understand people everywhere are not OK with this, but it’s nice to have a different approach for this event. ” 

Mayer, like many people here, said she was deeply frustrated and “disgusted” by the presence of federal immigration agents targeting her neighbors. Many people also said the federal government is implementing increasingly authoritarian policies. 

Since summer 2025, the No Kings movement has held multiple massive demonstrations across thousands of sites around the country, attracting millions of people to protest against what they consider to be an overreach of government under the Trump Administration.

This time around organizers shifted their focus, understanding that the midterm elections  will determine which political party controls Congress. If it’s the Democrats, they could put up roadblocks to Trump’s agenda. Organizers are hoping the day of early voting could not only increase the pool of voters, but also ease the burden on poll workers on Nov. 3, Election Day. 

Voting is in full swing across dozens of states, with over 5 million ballots cast, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. Trump faces a historic low in approval ratings. 

In Minnesota folk musician Emmett Doyle took to a stage in downtown Minneapolis to perform Lluís Llach’s “L’Estaca,” written in the 1960s in protest of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in Spain. 

Doyle is one of 15 defendants facing federal felony conspiracy charges stemming from protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s crackdown in Minnesota.

“When I was getting pulled out of my truck by federal agents a couple months ago, one of the first things I asked them was, ‘Hey, is this about the songs?’ And they told me, ‘No, it’s about resisting ICE,’” Doyle said to the crowd of about 1,000. “I told them, ‘Well, you’re going to have to arrest all of Minneapolis if you want to hit me for that.’”

Diane Komsky, 67,drove an hour to the No Kings protest in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,because of the “madness in the White House,” she said. 

“I want to give peace a real chance for families in the United States,” she said.

Mark Lyons of Centennial, Colorado, said he hadn’t been involved in much political activism or organizing before last year. Saturday’s protest was his fourth No Kings event.

With the midterms approaching, Lyons is hopeful that Democrats will take control of Congress and “put all kinds of checks and balances” on the Trump administration.

“They’ve been stealing the country blind for the last two years,” he said. “There has to be accountability, and it can’t be business as usual.”

At an event in the nation’s capital, 25-year-old Octavia Clapp said using her right to vote especially matters as Trump attempts to wield authority over voting. The Trump administration has spent more than a year in court battles with dozens of states and voting rights groups seeking to force states to provide sensitive voter data and curb voting by mail.

“I think cracking down on mail-in voting and restricting people’s ability to vote easily is anti-democratic,” said Clapp, of Maryland. “Democracy is really important to me, and freedom is really important to me.”

But the No Kings events were also met with pushback, including directly from Trump’s team. 

“The fact that the ‘No Kings’ organizers are talking about voting in the upcoming election proves they should change their name,” said Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson. “This November, Americans have a clear choice between President Trump and Republican’s commonsense policies or the extreme Democrats radical socialist, open-border policies.”

In battleground state Virginia, two pro-Trump observers on the outskirts of the crowd in Richmond watched on.

 “I’ve learned that a lot of a lot of folks here tend to be older, toward the baby boomer side,” Jacob Seivers, 20, said of the protesters, whom he called “more courteous than you might expect” and “willing to talk.” 

Seivers, who lives in Bedford County, called the speakers’ rhetoric about Republicans “hilarious” and “nonsense.” He also said he believes Congress will flip blue after November.

Trump supporter John Hess of Centralia, Washington, was outnumbered in Olympia but took that in stride. Hess said he comes to the Capitol every week and didn’t know of the day’s events until Friday. 

“Normally I don’t get this much excitement,” he said 

Back in New York, another local Indivisible organizer, Katherine Scannell, 35, said it’s important to encourage people to exercise their right to vote.  

Scannell and volunteers set up shop at a neighborhood “open streets” event in Astoria, Queens, where residents could walk within the street blocked off from cars, listen to live music, and pick up fresh and locally grown vegetables. 

“Normally it’s a protest, but the No Kings coalition had nationwide calls talking about how we wanted to turn those protests and eyeballs into action,”Scannell said. “Voting early is a great way to protect everyone’s vote, because when you vote early it’s hard to sabotage those numbers.” 

Alyssa Chen and Maya Betti of Minnesota Reformer, Makenzie Huber of South Dakota Searchlight, Chase Woodruff of Colorado Newsline, Andrew Kerley for Virginia Mercury and Baya Burgess for States Newsroom’s D.C. bureau, contributed. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro, who is accused of shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis through the closed door of a Minneapolis home in January, turned himself in to federal authorities on Thursday, the Associated Press and other outlets reported. 

Castro was indicted by a federal grand jury this week on six charges of making false statements related to the shooting, according to the indictment which was unsealed on Friday. 

Matthew Evans, the assistant U.S. attorney in Minnesota in charge of the case, was pursuing hefty civil rights charges against Castro, but was instructed by Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C. to downgrade the charges.

Evans was fired, CBS News reported Thursday, citing four unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

By charging Castro only with making false statements, the DOJ will not have to litigate whether the shooting was justified.

The Jan. 14 shooting followed a car chase between Castro and Alfredo Aljorna, who lived in the same duplex as Sosa-Celis. The chase ended at the men’s duplex, as Aljorna exited his car and tried to get inside the house. Aljorna slipped, and Castro jumped on top of him. 

Sosa-Celis dropped the shovel he was holding to help Aljorna up, and both men ran inside. Castro’s shot passed through the door and hit Sosa-Celis in the leg before coming to a stop in the wall of a child’s bedroom. 

Castro accused Sosa-Celis and Aljorna of assaulting him with a broom and a snow shovel before Castro opened fire, leading to assault charges against the two men that were dropped after surveillance footage proved Castro’s statements false.

The six charges in the indictment stem from six specific alleged lies Castro told FBI investigators after the shooting. Four of the counts are related to Castro accusing Sosa-Celis, Aljorna and a nonexistent third man of hitting him with a broom or shovel. One count is for Castro stating that a physical altercation between the three men lasted three minutes, and another count is over Castro’s statement that he was on the ground when he fired his gun. 

According to surveillance footage no one hit Castro with a broom or shovel. The physical altercation between them lasted 11 seconds, not three minutes. There was no other man present besides Castro, Aljorna and Sosa-Celis, and Castro was standing when he fired at the front door of the house. 

Castro worked for the U.S. Border Patrol for eight years before joining ICE in September, according to the indictment. 

Castro is also charged in Minnesota with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. He was arrested in May by Texas Rangers, a state law enforcement agency, and held in a Texas county jail for 90 days. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blocked Castro’s extradition to Minnesota, prompting a lawsuit from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, which failed to stop Castro’s release from jail last week. 

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty released a statement Thursday saying Castro is expected to appear first in a federal court in Texas, and a date will be set for his appearance in a Minnesota federal court. 

“Despite Gov. Abbott’s best efforts to shield Mr. Castro, we will see him soon,” Moriarty said.