Protestors have been gathering in all 50 states for important causes since the first No Kings Day in 2025
Photo Courtesy of Nicolas Lagana
In June and October of 2025, American citizens flocked to the streets to participate in the nation’s first ever No Kings protests, as was documented by PBS News. The first ever No Kings Protest in June 2025 drew about five million people, with the second organization drawing out even more citizens. The Guardian reported after the June 2025 protest that up to even six million may have shown up to No Kings Day protests across the nation, marking “the biggest ever single-day protests in U.S. history.” The first No Kings Day was recognized on President Trump’s “birthday which coincided with a parade the president threw in celebration of the US army’s 250th anniversary,” as per The Guardian. Protestors gathered with signs protesting Trump administration actions regarding women’s rights, deportations, and other various causes.
No Kings Days are still being held, and are still widely supported by the U.S. public. Another day of action took place recently on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. Many of these protests still focused on protesting actions taken by the Trump administration, while many attendees also focused on the importance of participating in early voting as the 2026 midterm elections approach, as reported by NPR. Saturday’s “events looked different across the country. Some were large marches or rallies, but many were smaller community gatherings such as block parties or cookouts.” According to Democracy Now!, “more than 3,000 local events” were held across “all 50 U.S. states”
The Lamron spoke with Sarah Rodriguez, one of the organizers and hosts of the No Kings: Vote Early “honk and wave” protest in Hamburg, NY on Oct. 17. According to Buffalo Toronto Public Media, the event in Hamburg was one of several organized in Western New York, with other No Kings events taking place in East Aurora, Lockport, Williamsville, and downtown Buffalo.
According to Rodriguez, her experience in organizing a previous No Kings event in Springville, New York helped her immensely in planning this Hamburg event, though “[t]he organization part was relatively simple in that we knew we needed to get a certain number of peacekeepers, people who are trained to be peacekeepers, and we also knew we needed to go through the nokings.org to get ourselves registered as a location and get on the map to attract people.”
As Rodriguez also said, most of the organizers belonged to Do Something! Southtowns (including Rodriguez)—a grassroots community organization based in Hamburg—though it was a member of Good Neighbors Getting It Done In Western New York (another local grassroots organization) that was the main advocate for Do Something! Southtowns to host an event in Hamburg. Additionally, one of the organizers belonged to the Rainbow Collective of Western New York, which provides support to the LGBTQ community. Rodriguez said that “[a]ll these grassroots community groups coming together for a common cause is just a beautiful thing.”
However, Rodriguez described this round of No Kings events as different from the others. No Kings: Vote Early was specifically about promoting early voting and making sure people have a plan for voting. She commented that “[u]nlike previous No Kings, we also had actions in there to figure out how we’re going to promote voting. Having information available for people about voting locations, where they can go to check their registration, and discussion of do we want to have candidates come, or do we not want to have candidates come. So those were kind of newer discussions for this No Kings in particular.”
However, regarding the event itself, Rodriguez said that “[t]he energy, the vibes, everything was upbeat…Everyone felt good being around other people championing the same things that they are. Overall, it’s just a wonderful experience.” According to Rodriguez, there were an estimated 278 people in attendance, which greatly outdid Do Something! Southtown’s weekly protests in Hamburg that typically receive around 50 attendees.
Rodriguez described helping organize this event as a great source of pride for her, saying that “[i]t warms my heart and fills me with pride to be able to do this. It leaves me with an enormous sense of satisfaction as well that I’m doing something to help out other people and to help the movement.”
As Rodriguez explained, “[s]o many of us are filled with this sense of helplessness at everything that’s going on in the news day after day after day, and for me, the way that I combat that feeling of helplessness is by taking action and doing something.”
Rodriguez concluded with an explanation of why she and a friend dressed as suffragettes at the Oct. 17 event, stating that “[t]he reason why we did that was to make a statement about how having the right to vote is not something to be taken for granted. Many of us take for granted that we do have the right to vote, and will sit at home and not exercise that right to vote, and I think that's something that needs to change if we want to bring about change for our country for the better. We need to be involved and we need to exercise that right. Women, and people of color, and indigenous communities all had to fight very hard for that right to vote, so I encourage everyone not to take that for granted and use that right.”