Organizers of the nationwide “No Kings” protests held Oct. 17 insist the demonstrations are “nonpartisan.” Many of the people who showed up didn’t get the memo.
In Alexandria, Virginia, 26-year-old environmental engineer Nayely Cruz Hernandez stood with a line of protesters on South Washington Street and told Fox News Digital exactly what she wanted from the day: “Vote blue.”
“We got to take the power away from Trump, from the Republicans,” Hernandez said. “So we got to win the House, we got to win the Senate, not only in Virginia, but across the country.”
Hernandez was aware that national organizers had set rules requiring the protests to stay nonpartisan, but said that didn’t change her message. “The No King … organizers can say whatever,” she said. “But I’m saying vote blue, because why are we here? Who’s in the House? Who’s in the Senate? Who is the President? It’s red, it’s Republicans, and it’s Trump.” She went on to say her dog, Maybellene, was “telling you to vote for Don Beyer,” the Democratic congressman who represents the area.
The scene in Alexandria was not an outlier. Hours later, at an official “No Kings” event near the White House on H Street NW, a self-described “professional protester” named Nadine Seiler rejected the nonpartisan label outright when asked about it.
“No, no, the people who agree with Trump are not out here. So it’s never gonna be non-partisan if it’s a resistance to the fascist regime. They can pretend, but it’s not.”
Asked point blank whether the event was partisan, Seiler didn’t hedge: “Yes, this is a partisan protest.” She added, “Yeah, so this is as partisan as you can get.”
Who’s Behind the Rallies
A Fox News Digital investigation identified roughly 300 organizations with a combined $2.5 billion in annual revenue tied to the “No Kings” protest network. The list includes Democratic-aligned advocacy groups, major labor unions and nonprofits such as MoveOn, the American Federation of Teachers and the ACLU.
That funding structure is part of why organizers are so insistent on the nonpartisan framing. Federal law regulating tax-exempt nonprofits restricts the kind of explicit campaign activity — candidate endorsements, “vote Democrat” messaging, coordination with political parties — that groups like these are supposed to avoid if they want to keep their status.
National spokesperson Eunic Epstein-Ortiz told Fox News Digital that “No Kings” is a “nonpartisan, peaceful movement that has brought millions of Americans together to stand up for democracy, defend our freedoms, and reject authoritarianism.” When told that Fox News Digital’s reporting found partisan activity at events from Maine to Oregon, Epstein-Ortiz said, “We are aware of partisan events circulating online that are not affiliated with or officially organized by No Kings. Many people utilize the No Kings name as a rallying cry.”
But the Alexandria protest where Cruz Hernandez spoke was listed as an official event on the organizers’ own website — not a rogue offshoot.
Signs and Slogans
Other signage at the two events left little doubt about the political lean of the crowds. One woman in Alexandria carried a sign reading, “THE USA Needs a Big Beautiful BLUE WAVE.” Nearby, a man held a sign from the group Refuse Fascism declaring “TRUMP MUST GO NOW!” Another displayed “86 47” — the phrase former FBI Director James Comey posted online that federal prosecutors have called an overt threat against the president. Other signs read “EVERY DAY I HATE HIM MORE THAN I DID THE DAY BEFORE” and “NO CROWN FOR THE CLOWN.”
What Organizers Say Behind Closed Doors
The movement’s own leaders have been candid about its electoral aims in less public settings. During an Oct. 15 livestream, Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin compared the two parties’ candidates bluntly: “Our candidates are quite good all around the country. Their candidates are quite trash all over the country.”
In an Oct. 9 webinar, Levin coached activists on how to criticize Trump without crossing into an explicit Democratic endorsement: “Uh, you’ve got to let people connect the dots on that one.”
Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg has described “No Kings” as a “nonpartisan coalition” meant to draw participants from across the political spectrum.
Legally, there’s a distinction between what individual protesters say and what organizers are responsible for — a single demonstrator shouting “vote blue” doesn’t by itself prove an organizing nonprofit broke election law, and tax-exempt charities operate under different rules than political advocacy groups. But from Alexandria to the White House, the people actually showing up to these “nonpartisan” rallies were not shy about which side they were on.
