‘No Kings’ organizers aim to harness momentum heading into high-stakes midterms
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A sea of demonstrators that clogged the wind-whipped Capitol grounds and surrounding streets over the weekend departed with clear instructions: Keep up the energy as the midterm election approaches.
Organizers and rallygoers alike hope the “No Kings” events are more of a launching point than a moment in time.
“We organize, we participate and we show up. And Minnesota, we showed the country that is what we do,” Malika Dahir, with a local group called RISE, told rally goers on Saturday. “So let's continue to show up, not just today, not in this moment of crisis, but consistently ongoing, relentlessly."
It was the first major rally since a gradual drawdown of federal immigration officers after a turbulent few months. Two American citizens — Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti — were killed, and thousands of immigrants and observers were detained.
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Speakers, including singer and activist Joan Baez, credited Minnesota with launching a revolution.
“For those of us who believe in the power of nonviolent resistance, and those of you who didn't, you have shown the way with your courage, determination and decency,” Baez said, before she and musician Maggie Rogers sang an adapted version Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” that included specific callouts to Minnesota.
The U.S. airstrikes on Iran and rising prices domestically were also top concerns for attendees.
After previous rallies, organizers trained many thousands to be constitutional observers. They said that will continue — as will efforts to mobilize voters.
“We've got to convert this great energy into electoral success,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. “We got into this mess because of an election, and we're going to help get ourselves out of it through an election.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, the former head of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, was at the St. Paul rally, too.
“Today is not about elections, right?” Martin said. “But what we need to do is capture this energy, capture the momentum that we've had this last year, and keep it moving forward. If we do that, we're going to win. We'll put a check on this guy's power.”
Leah Greenberg with the Indivisible Project urged people to sign up to report potential problems at election polling locations ahead of midterm elections.
“Trump is facing down a midterm election that he knows he is going to lose because people hate this mad king business,” Greenberg said. “And so what is he going to do? He's going to try to steal it, but he's going to fail because we are going to stop him.”
Trump has floated the possibility of nationalizing elections and dispatching troops to polling places.
Minnesota Republican Party Chair Alex Plechash dismissed the rallies as “pure political theater.”
“When you have nothing to show, you turn to fear, slogans and spectacle,” Plechash said in a written statement. “They’re importing East Coast liberals like Joan Baez, Jane Fonda and Bruce Springsteen because they can’t defend what’s happening in Minnesota.”
November’s election was on the minds of many who came out to protest.
Peter Crooks, of Woodbury, came with a sign with Alex Pretti’s name and a button that read “I’m Pretti Good.” He attended the rally with his mother, Cynthia Crooks, and girlfriend, Zoe Snyder.
“The sign behind you says, ‘We are the leaders we have been waiting for,’ and that is what I hope that we get out of today, is that we start a different kind of fire,” Crooks said.
He said that fire he referred to has to come from people who are fed up.
"We start our own that we carry then all the way up to the top. And we take our country back,” Crooks said.
Remmus Xiong said he was encouraged to see a strong turnout at the St. Paul rally. He hopes it could make a difference moving forward.
“I know that progress is very slow, and so it takes this small step for another step to another step,” said Xiong, 30, St. Paul. “But this is the start, and we're leading up to change.”
Sandy Damman, 70, said she hopes to volunteer helping voters cast their ballots this fall.
“I want to assist people getting into to vote and make sure people aren't bothering them, and just make it safe for people to come out and vote,” said Damman, of Shoreview.
There were No Kings events all around Minnesota.
Thousands gathered outside the public library in St. Cloud. Laura Hermann came from nearby Sartell.
“I'm hoping people will start to think a little bit harder of why they decided to vote more Republican. I voted Republican before, but so it just depends who's there, but I'm hoping that this will generate a new tomorrow for us.”
There are 217 more tomorrows before voting ends in the 2026 election. It will be up to “No Kings” attendees to convince others who didn’t feel the tug to show up Saturday to vote with them in November. That will determine if the change they’re after is a reality or a shout in the wind.
This story was reported and written by MPR News political correspondent Dana Ferguson with contributions from reporters Kirsti Marohn in St. Cloud and Feven Gerezgiher in St. Paul.
