Summing up the No Kings Rallies

Posted October 21, 2025

With seven to eight million demonstrating at 2600 rallies across the country, the October 18th NO KINGS rallies rate among the largest in U.S. history. While the Trump administration tried to paint the events as “Hate America,” they were creative and good-natured events. The largest were in New York City and Chicago with well over 200,000 in each city. But many of the small cities, where a weekly demonstration might see the same 20-30 people turned out thousands.

Most of the signs and chants supported immigrants, opposed ICE, called for civil rights and human rights, but did so by mocking Trump and his team’s threats. They dressed in colonial-era garb or customs out of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaiden’s Tale to make a point but also make fun of the would-be dictator.

Many people wore inflatable costumes, representing various animals. These animals represent a symbol of resistance since a protester in Portland, Oregon dressed up in frog outfit only to be pepper-sprayed by ICE agents.

But the organizing is still at a beginning stage. People come to the events with friends and family and have carefully prepared their signs and costumes. But unions for the most part have been caught napping.

The only organized union presence seems to have been in New York City. A dozen unions organized a feeder march up Sixth Avenue and ended in Union Square in Manhattan. But they never linked up with the main march!

Chicago’s mayor Brandon Johnson ended his speech with a challenge to organized labor when he called for a general strike, saying:

“If my ancestors, as slaves, can lead the greatest general strike in the history of this country, taking it to the ultra-rich and big corporations, we can do it too!” (The general strike that U.S. slaves waged was the Civil War. They escaped their owners, which represented the majority of their owners — and the country’s — wealth!)

For his part, Trump posted an A.I. generated video on Truth Social Saturday evening showing him wearing a crown while flying a plane above crowds of demonstrations, dropping feces for bombs. But revealing himself in such a crude fashion surely doesn’t surprise many demonstrators, who came to rallies in various animal costumes and signs with hilarious and sexually explicit references about Trump.

District of Columbia & Baltimore:

The commuter train from Baltimore to DC was unusually busy for a Saturday and had many other people who were going to the demonstration. There was clearly excitement and energy and walking to the demo from Union Station I ran into a feeder march.

The demonstration was a block north of the National Mall, a couple blocks away from the US Capitol. I’m guessing it was there rather than the Mall because the Mall would have required a federal permit, while the street required a permit from the friendlier city government. The placement on a city street made for an awkward layout.

I’m not good at estimating crowd sizes, but if I had to guess, I’d say between 10,000 and 20,000. If this were a national protest where people were mobilizing from many states away, this would not be a very impressive number, but since the national strategy was to have a proliferation of protests in cities everywhere (which I agree with), this was mostly a DC-area crowd, making it a pretty good number. I would estimate that the crowd was about 80% white, 20% people of other races. The age range was very broad.

Marshalls had to spend a lot of effort directing pedestrian traffic to make it manageable and avoid crowd crush. There was limited area close enough to the main stage to hear the speeches but it was packed full of people listening.

At a second stage, I listened to a speech by Bernie Sanders — he blamed the Republicans for the government shutdown and called for taxes on the rich, free public higher education, affordable housing and abortion rights. Notably, he called for an end to U.S. foreign policy that “kills children in Gaza.” The speech was well received by those who could hear it (probably around 200 people in the immediate area).

The atmosphere was festive and friendly, with many homemade signs and people in inflatable costumes. There was not a lot of chanting; the awkward layout led to a lot of unfocused milling around.

At one side of the demonstration were tents with tables promoting various forms of protest and action including boycotts and petitions. Consistent with the theme of the demonstration, most of the signs referred to Trump’s abuses of due process, defending constitutional norms or were some sort of humorous mockery of Trump.

There were a substantial number of signs supporting immigrant rights and queer rights but only a handful expressing support for Palestine. There were visible signs, including a JVP banner and a huge Palestine flag. There were a few clusters of what looked like union staff, but no contingents. There were a few tables from left groups but not prominent.

My friend who went to the suburban demonstration I skipped told me it had a very visible left, queer, and Palestine presence. In the evening in Baltimore there was a demonstration outside the train station with a dance party theme, attended by a couple hundred. The were politics were similar to the demo in DC.

Overall, it felt re-energizing and positive to be part of a large group opposing Trump. I think the organizers are right to make the protests feel fun and have a low political barrier to entry. I think next time I go to such an event I’ll bring a Palestine sign.

A response from a retired Chicago teacher:

I agree with you about the low political barrier and the warm fuzzy friendly vibe being important… especially to making people (particularly families and seniors) feel safe and eager to come out. We had an amazing demo and, for me, one of the highlights was a couple of young people from the low income Black/Brown neighborhood high school I taught at come up as excited to see me as I was to see them. They were class of 2011 so it was cool that they recognized me in my old lady guise… and awesome that they were there… representing for their many undocumented friends and relatives who were, understandably, afraid to come out.

Detroit, MI:

Somewhere between 3,000-4,000 people gathered at Roosevelt Park, in front of the Michigan Train Station, for a rally and march. The crowd seemed larger than the last No Kings rally with immigrant rights as the #1 priority. Given that it was a lovely fall day, organizations set up their tables and many people who are circulating petitions — for rank-choice voting and tax the rich to fund schools — were diligently gathering signatures. Unfortunately unions did not mobilize their membership to turn out. Workers came with their family and friends, but not with their union.

Houston, TX:

Several thousand people gathered yesterday in front of City Hall, despite stifling heat for a very spirited yet peaceful No Kings event.

The organizers spoke of between 13,500 to 15,000 participants, which I believe to be a gross exaggeration. I would estimate about 3,000 people attended the main event, which can probably be stretched to about 5,000 attendants, considering people kept coming and going. I was out of the country for the June event but everybody I talked to who had participated, told me that yesterday’s event was significantly smaller. Supposedly, around 10,000 people participated in the June event.

I think there are a couple of reasons for the lower turnout. A) a competing No Kings event was held just prior at another location close-by. From what I understand there was no political reason for this but simply a lack of coordination. B) I don’t know if this occurred in June, but this time around there were No Kings events at major surrounding suburbs, such as Katy, the Woodlands etc.

There were a number of speakers lined up, including a local DSA member. One speech that particularly grabbed me was by a Palestinian youth activist, who called out U.S. complicity in the war on Gaza and politicians beholden to AIPAC. Another speaker finished off by repeatedly saying Fuck Trump and Fuck ICE, which prompted the crowd to break out in chants. Other chants were “Chinga la Migra” and “The people united will never be defeated” with renditions in both English and Spanish.

Not a single counter-protester was to be seen. Since we have historically had significant issues in that regard, this further feeds my suspicion that those elements may have been deputized by ICE.

In a provocative move, Gov. Abbott mobilized the TX National Guard and had them on stand-by for the same event held in Austin, despite the peaceful nature of these protests.

View a short video of the event.

Indianapolis, IN:

Close to 15,000 attended. Lots of young people. For sure was mostly taken up by the Dems but the ambiance was mostly left wing among participants. For me it seems that people want to defy MAGAs authoritarianism, support immigrants, and valued democracy, freedom and social justice. People want real change, they might not call it socialist yet but that’s clear the path in front of us.

Madison, WI:

The No Kings Rally today was the biggest street protest I’ve seen in a long time. Media reports that 25,000-50,000 people attended the Madison WI rally. Once the march arrived at the King St entrance to the Capitol and the speakers began, the King St sidewalk and half the Capitol lawn was filled with people, which suggests the higher turnout. The comparables are the Women’s March in 2017 that was about the same size and the Wisconsin Uprising in 2011 that topped 100K.

The march convened in nearby McPike Park and protesters walked up the major arterial E. Washington Ave. to the State Capitol, completely closing the street for several hours. Representative Fran Hong who is a DSA member and candidate for Governor was leading chants along the way. There was a Badger football game today as well, so it was a very busy day in Madison!

The turnout was majority White but there was a diversity in age from families with very young children in tow to seniors. Speakers included a representative from the Madison Rafah (Palestine) Sister City project, SEIU, the National Federation of Federal Employees local 276, Representative Mark Pocan, Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell, Menominee Elder and educator Art Shegonee, John Nichols of the Madison Cap Times and The Nation. Judge Everett Mitchell, who is also a Reverend, gave the most fiery speech of the day. Madison School Board member Ali Muldrow emceed the event.

Several speakers mentioned Palestine and the threat of fascism. I left after two hours of speeches so I don’t know if anyone from the local or state Democratic Party was invited to talk besides U.S. Rep Mark Pocan. I also didn’t see organized contingents marching or organized signage (I could have missed it). The sponsors were Madison DSA, UW Teaching Assistants Association, AFSCME local one and local 2412, the South Central Federation of Labor, UE local 1186, Freedom Inc., Voces de la Frontera, WI Bail Out the People Movement, PSL, Socialist Alternative, +350 Wisconsin, Families for Justice, Socialist Horizon and Trans Resistance Action Committee among others.

There were 93 No Kings rallies in Wisconsin today according to John Nichols and the weather was perfect. It was inspiring to see so many people join together.

Milwaukee, WI:

Mass No Kings! demonstrations took place in downtown Milwaukee and at least seven other locations in the Milwaukee area. The downtown event at Cathedral Square drew more than 10,000 multigenerational, mostly white protesters, who listened to speeches before marching through downtown. Speakers included Christine Neumann-Ortiz, director of the immigrant workers’ rights organization Voces de la Frontera and Janan Najeeb, executive director of the Muslim Women’s Coalition. Most signs and banners were handmade and these focused on Trump’s threats to democratic rights. Others expressed support for Gaza and solidarity with immigrant communities.

Olympia, WA:

Great turnout in Olympia, WA. Probably 8-10,000 people at Capitol. Lots of homemade signs, all ages and children, Gaza support as well as democracy, Constitution.

Everyone was in a great mood with each other. Lots of Immigration support signs, get rid of ICE, No problem with any opposition people or protests. Good response to my “Abortion is a Human Right” round sign, like,” yeah let’s not forget women.”

Ages of those present across the board from families to school age to older, lots of social security age protesters. Better mix of diversity as more young and high school agers come out. Trans and LGBTQIA there in costume and signs. Lots of signing up for next step. Best support for speakers indicating need for more action. Diverse array of speakers. Not as much talk of elections as I anticipated. People here really strongly organizing immigration and anti-ICE support.

Pittsburgh, PA:

The event in downtown Pittsburgh was organized by Indivisible, with sponsorship from Black Neighborhoods United, the Black Political Empowerment Project, 1Hood Power, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, Casa San Jose, Progress PA, Stand Up for Science, the League of Women Voters, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Coalition of Labor Union Women. The crowd was inter-generational, largely but not entirely white, and basically working class (blue collar, white collar, retirees, students, and more).

According to one reliable news outlet, Pittsburgh Public Source, “besides the marquee event Downtown, local affiliates announced events in Allegheny Center, Point Breeze, Mt. Lebanon, McCandless, Coraopolis, Sewickley, Robinson and the county seats of most of Allegheny County’s neighbors. … Public safety workers estimated that a No Kings gathering near Allegheny Center [on Pittsburgh’s North Side] drew around 3,000 people, and the Downtown event appeared to be several times larger.”

This means 9,000 to12,000 in downtown Pittsburgh plus 3,000 on the North Side, with hundreds more in the suburbs.

Salt Lake City, UT:

About 10,000-11,000 gathered at the Capitol for a rally, one of 14 held across the state. There were many signs, both humorous and more serious. LGBTQ+ pride flags were flown; several held American flags upside down to indicate a high level of distress. Several people came dressed in inflatable bee costumes. Utah is the Beehive State, and organizers had encouraged people to wear yellow. Other were dressed as dinosaurs, unicorns, frogs and even a capybara.

Former Utah Teacher of the Year John Arthur was one of the speakers. He talked about the difficulty in talking to students who are questioning how ICE is grabbing people and taking them into custody.

A few counter protesters, wearing masks and vests, stood at the edge of the rally with a banner that said “Utah Stands with Ice.” When the media asked them who they were, they only identified themselves as “patriots.”

Syracuse, NY:

The Syracuse Post-Standard estimated 6,000. Invisible, using a drone, estimated 8,000-10,000. People, nearly all white of all ages, lined a strip mall boulevard in the Syracuse near-suburb of Dewitt. Just signs, no speakers — a lot of pro-Democratic Party signs.

P.S. October 23, San Francisco, CA

This photo was from a rally and march 10/23/2025 in response to the ICE invasions in the Bay Area. Short notice but large crowd. 50,000 marched and rallied on No Kings Day 10/18/2025. Bay Resistance and other groups organizing in neighborhoods for months now.