Thousands in NJ push for early voting at No Kings rallies against Trump

SOMERVILLE — Harvey Barry finds it tough to condense all the complaints he has about President Donald Trump, less than halfway through Trump’s second term in the White House.

So he picked one, immigration, put his sentiments on a sign, and bundled up for a brisk day outside the Somerset County Court House Saturday, where he joined hundreds of people protesting Trump at one of nearly 3,000 No Kings rallies unfolding nationwide.

“There’s too many things to mention for why I’m out here. I’ve never really been politically active, but with Trump and his administration, I just I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do something,” Barry said.

The theme of the day was early voting, with protesters aiming to energize voters in hopes of flipping control of Congress in the midterm elections next month. Early in-person voting in New Jersey begins Saturday, Oct. 24.

“Voting is so important,” said Douglas Anderson, 77, of Hillsborough. “That’s the one voice that we have, the one power that we have, and we can’t take that for granted. If we want change, we’ve got to use that power.”

Lisa Moor, 55, of Somerville, is a social studies teacher who tries to instill in her students the importance of their voting rights.

“I was really upset by the SAVE Act and limiting women’s right to vote by requiring women to have to go the extra step to prove that they are who they are and requiring them to show their birth certificate and the extra fee that’s involved — and even to get a passport if that’s how you’re going to show that you are indeed eligible and have the right to vote,” Moor said.

The No Kings rallies are billed as nonpartisan, but Somerville lies in a congressional district with the most competitive race statewide, with Democrat Rebecca Bennett seeking to unseat Rep. Tom Kean Jr., a two-term Republican.

So when Bennett showed up at Somerville’s No Kings rally Saturday, many rushed to say hello, pose for selfies with her, and otherwise root her on. She did not speak to the crowd, but an event speaker welcomed her from the stage, telling onlookers: “I don’t see Tom Kean here! That guy never shows up! When we need someone, Rebecca Bennett is here!”

Bennett told the New Jersey Monitor her goal during the 17 days until the Nov. 3 election is to meet as many voters where they are as possible. Bennett said voters are telling her to take on the cost-of-living crisis, tackle corruption in D.C., and put country over party.

“People are really fired up about flipping this seat,” Bennett said.

Corruption was a common complaint at the No Kings rallies, with Linda Mueller, 74, of Basking Ridge, calling Trump corrupt, narcissistic, and greedy.

“I’m horrified by the turn that so many people have taken to believe that someone like Trump could lead us anywhere but to disaster,” Mueller said.

Other demonstrators said they were most concerned about the Trump administration’s violent and expansive immigration enforcement, its DEI rollbacks, its failure to release the Epstein files, religion creeping into the schools, and rising inflation and gas prices, among other things.

Foreign policy was another top worry among those who rallied Saturday, including the ongoing wars in Iran, Gaza, and Ukraine and the growing roles of Russia and Israel in shaping American foreign policy.

“I’m very concerned about the influence that Israel has on our politicians, our elections, and our military budgets in terms of the money that gets sent to Israel, which they then turn take and use against the population of Gaza,” said Claudia Bayait, 61, of Somerville.

Sara Gharavi of Bound Brook carried walking sticks that dangled plastic ears and skulls bearing the names of countries, to symbolize places where she said the U.S. has carried out war crimes without accountability. Her husband, Ali, who’s Iranian, carried a sign that said: “No war with Iran.”

“Not spending money on social needs and just spending money on defense and the military industrial conflict, all of that bothers us,” Sara Gharavi said. “We’re focused on stopping the forever wars. States are really concerned about being overrun by immigrants. Well, one of the ways to not be overrun by immigrants is to stop attacking countries, stop displacing their people, and stop interfering with their governments and the way they want to run their nations.”

Melissa Mariani, 50, of Stewartsville, regards Trump’s rhetoric on foreign policy, including his claim that he has ended eight wars, as part of the “lies and propaganda and gaslighting” that she said has characterized his time in office.

“It’s mind-blowing that he has any supporters at this point. I think that it really goes to show the propaganda machine has worked, and it’s really sad,” Mariani said. “We need a reality check. Our democracy is literally on the line. I fear that it’s too late at this point, honestly, because the damage that he’s done to us internationally, to our relationships with our allies, all that soft power that we had with U.S. aid, it’s all gone. And how long does it take to rebuild that kind of stuff? He’s hindered us for decades.”