Arizona No Kings crowds channel anger at Trump and Republicans into early votes

Tens of thousands of Arizonans rallied and voted early on Saturday as part of the fourth No Kings day of protest that saw 44 demonstrations across the Grand Canyon State in opposition to President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies. 

The protests and marches in Arizona were part of some 3,000 similar events planned across the country. The demonstrations are part of a national day of action hoping to harness opposition to Trump to get out the vote. While the three previous No Kings days focused on speaking out against Trump and his allies, Saturday’s events all emphasized the need for participants to exercise their power at the ballot box. 

The events drew large crowds all with a central message: vote. 

“This is it. This is your ticket to a better America,” U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego told the crowd of about 200 people gathered at Grant Park in downtown Phoenix while holding up an early ballot envelope. 

Grant Park holds significant history as a gathering place for Phoenix’s Latino community. Across the street sits Friendly House, which has helped immigrant communities since 1915, and next door is American Legion Post 41, which was the first to allow Hispanic members after World War II. 

“This is where the civil rights movement started in the Latino community,” Gallego said of the neighborhood.

Republicans peeled off a larger number of Hispanic voters than usual in 2024, but amid Trump’s violent mass deportation agenda that has torn apart immigrant communities, the president’s favorability among Hispanic voters has plummeted, with only 24% approving of Trump. 

The political power of Latino voters was the focus of the Grant Park event, which was organized by Latino advocacy groups. It was suffused with Latino culture, featuring a live mariachi band. 

Among the speakers were Mary Rose Wilcox, the first Hispanic woman to serve on the Phoenix City Council and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. She led attendees to the nearby drop box to vote. 

“We are proud to be proud Mexican-Americans, and Americans we are,” Wilcox said to cheers from the audience. “Su voto es su voz!” 

The Grant Park event culminated in a march to the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center, where, in 2020, far right protesters swarmed when Trump lost his first reelection bid. 

The event also included speeches from U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari and Maricopa County Board Supervisor Steve Gallardo, both Democrats. 

The crowd was full of a diverse set of people from all age ranges and for many, it was not their first No Kings event. 

“I feel like AI is really messing with the youth’s intelligence and using all of our water,” 15-year-old Kalli Hester told the Arizona Mirror when asked what brought her to the Saturday event. 

It was Hester’s second No Kings rally and she said that if she was old enough to vote, she’d be voting for a straight Democratic ticket. 

She also said she hopes more candidates focus on reproductive health going forward. 

“It kinda makes me scared for me, my siblings and my cousins,” Hester said while reflecting on the landmark Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion protections in Roe v. Wade. 

On the other end of the spectrum, 61-year-old Byrd Preston said it was hard for him to choose one thing in particular that has spurred him to participate in the rallies. 

“Everything,” Preston said with a chuckle. “The lying, the facism, the nastiness of this country.” 

Preston, who attended business school in the 1980s, said he has never liked Trump, even back then, and that he hopes more emphasis is put on flipping the state’s long-time Republican controlled legislature. National Democratic organizations have been flooding the state with campaign money the past several years in an attempt to flip it with little success. 

“I wish I heard more in this election cycle honestly about turning the legislature blue,” Preston said, adding that he approves of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ record number of vetoes of  Republican proposals. “The legislation that comes out of (the legislature) is just horrendous.” 

Immigration was also a hot-button topic for younger attendees at the rally at Grant Park. 

Rose Kelly, 17, said one of her main concerns about immigration is “how violent it is, how violent it has all gotten. Even to innocent people.”

Kelly added that, while she is unable to vote, she has been active in anti-ICE demonstrations, including a walkout at her high school over how the agency has been being used by the Trump administration. 

“It is not about immigration anymore, it is about weaponizing,” her father, Jaxon Kelly, said. 

Over in Glendale at another event, multiple voters voiced their concerns about affordability. 

Affordability and the economy were key issues Republicans campaigned on in 2024 but have now become a pain point, as prices have continued to rise under Trump, due in part to the costly war in Iran. 

“The main issues are accountability for what they’ve been doing, the ability to afford things, the price of food, gas — that’s terrible,” former school teacher Gordon Pinda said. “I mean, I’m an old guy. But for young people starting out, it’s hard enough.”

North Phoenix Democrat Becky Delaware agreed that lowering prices is an important issue, but said she’s also concerned about how her tax dollars are being used by the administration. 

“Lower prices. But that’s not number one. Our tax dollars are going to annihilate an entire race of people,” Delaware said, pointing to a Palestinian flag. 

The United States has sent over $300 billion to Israel, with $244 billion of that for military aid, from 1946 to 2024. And then there’s the increased spending on immigration enforcement and rounding up immigrants, many of whom have no criminal record and have lived in America for decades.

“We’re annihilating in a different way,” Delaware said, motioning to a Mexican flag. “Brown people are being put in these detention centers and just snatched up off the street and disappeared and deported to God knows where and put in these detention centers where God knows what happens to them.” 

At a “Bike Out the Vote” event in Central Phoenix, attendees said that they’ve been focused on trying to improve voter turnout for this midterm election cycle. 

“The last primary had like 20% voter turnout, which is just ridiculously bad,” Phoenix resident Evo Terra said. “People have been beaten down since I’ve been alive that voting doesn’t matter. It’s going to be the same crooks that are in charge…I understand that. I understand the argument, the frustration, but it’s important because, if we’re going to make change in the country, we got to do it through voting. That’s really the only visible way we’re going to make a change.” 

Terra said he and the group he’s a leader of, the Rush Hour Resistance Rally, have been heavily focused on trying to turn out the vote this election. 

“We have three primary things that RHRR, that we’re concerned about, and one of those things is protecting democracy, protecting our neighbors and the vulnerable within us, whether that’s the homeless community or Latinos or other people being targeted by administration,” Terra said. “And then the third one, which we’ve been focusing on for the last six months, is getting out the vote.” 

Several dozen protesters lined the sidewalks of 59th Avenue and the Loop 101 in Glendale early Saturday morning, with many leaning over the concrete barricades to wave their signs at passing cars and others hugging the chain link to show their posters to the commuters speeding by on the freeway below. White block letters, blown up big enough to be seen from the freeway, asked drivers: “I voted, have you?”

Dennis McNulty joined the demonstration to speak out against Trump’s illegal use of power, including his decision to launch a war with Iran without first seeking congressional approval. McNulty, a Vietnam war veteran, said he strongly disagrees with Trump’s weaponization of executive orders and his flagrant disregard for the Constitution. 

But the 74-year-old said he’s hopeful the November midterms will flip at least one Congressional chamber to ensure there is some pushback on the executive branch. 

“There has to be a return to sanity,” McNulty said. “Congress has to take back its responsibilities and not let Trump run rampant.” 

Some Glendale residents who showed up to criticize the Trump administration were formerly his supporters. Valentin Espinoza voted for Trump two years ago but he said he regrets that now, after witnessing the violent tactics federal immigration agents have employed across the country and feeling the crunch of the worsening economy. 

And, Espinoza added, he’s concerned by what he called Trump’s blatant disregard for the separation of powers and his lack of consideration for working Americans. 

“He believes he’s a king,” Espinoza said. “He doesn’t respect the laws or the Constitution.” 

In Scottsdale, hundreds of people filled the intersection of Scottsdale and Camelback roads. Musicians performed live, singing “All we are saying, get ICE out for good!” to raucous cheers from the protestors clustered around them. Progressive organizations manned small tables, offering baked goods and free voting guides. People brandished signs calling for participation in the midterms at passing cars, cheering when they were answered with honks. 

While the city has long been a Republican stronghold, voters of all political stripes showed up to Saturday’s rally in Old Town Scottsdale. Gail Fithian, a registered independent, said her top concern is political corruption. Fithian, 66, said she’s always been worried about politicians who are seeking office for financial gain, but said she believes that political greed and corruption has never been worse than under the Trump administration. 

She said she’s planning to vote in November to elect politicians that could address that. And she called on others to vote, too, saying that every vote counts, particularly in Arizona. 

“Your vote matters,” Fithian said. “So many elections are won by small margins here.” 

In 2022, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes won her seat by just 280 votes. 

Judy Appleyard, 74, has been a Republican for most of her life. But Trump and the Make America Great Again movement prompted her to switch her party registration to independent, she said. She still identifies as a conservative voter, but said she can’t support the Republican Party’s new priorities, which have shifted too far to the right for her. 

Appleyard toted a sign advocating against the MAGA movement, with the title crossed out under “VOTE” in large, stark capital print. She said the list of her grievances with the Trump administration is long, but noted that her most recent frustration was the White House’s decision to lift sanctions on Russia and import diesel fuel from the country, which Appleyard called a betrayal of U.S. ally Ukraine. And while she acknowledged that fuel prices are straining the budgets of everyday Americans, including hers, she said that betraying Ukraine isn’t worth the temporary benefit. 

“If the cost is someone’s freedom to buy cheaper gas — that’s too big a price to pay,” she said. 

Kathy Hayden, 66, said she’s hoping voters will award Democrats control of Congress in November. She said she’s concerned about the lack of balance in the federal government, as the Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, and the conservative Supreme Court have each capitulated to Trump’s agenda. 

“I’m hoping a blue wave will happen. I would like to see some more control taken over the executive branch,” Hayden said. “Republicans aren’t doing that, Democrats have the ability to have a stronger say in things.” 

In Tempe, residents plastered signs against the chain link fencing of the pedestrian bridge that overlooks U.S. 60. Jennifer Bentz held up her sign that read: “NO WAR, NO ICE, NO KINGS,” against the fence so that drivers speeding by could see it. The 47-year-old said she’s been a sometimes infrequent voter over the years, but said that this year is different. She’s determined to make her voice heard at the ballot box because federal policies have left her feeling abandoned. 

Bentz and her teen son are among more than 400,000 Arizonans who lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits after the Trump administration enacted new work requirements for the federal aid program. And she said she’s worried she’ll be kicked off of her Medicaid coverage next year when similar work requirements are implemented. 

“If it wasn’t for my mom, I don’t know how we would eat,” she said. 

Bentz said she’s more fired up than ever to vote in November to make her discontent with the Trump administration known. 

“He promised no new wars and that he wouldn’t touch Medicaid or SNAP,” she pointed out, saying that those promises were flagrantly broken. 

Early voting is already underway in Arizona and voters have until Oct. 23 to request a mail-in ballot with Oct. 27 being the last day it can be mailed in. Voters can check their registration status, request an early ballot and find other information at Arizona.vote.