Across Central Florida, more than a dozen “No Kings: Vote Early” events were held Saturday, part of a nationwide vote-mobilization effort organized by the No Kings group and its hundreds of partners.
Organizers said the goal was to encourage voter participation, build community and make sure every eligible voter has a plan to cast their ballot.
No Kings events began last year, in response to the second Trump administration and policies like its controversial immigration enforcement practices.
Rallying in Orlando
Woven through a sea of chants and signs surrounding Orlando City Hall and lining downtown streets was a message: Get out and vote, and do it early.
Participants ranged from elementary school-aged children to retirees. One even showed up dressed as a founding father.
Jane Berg, one of the older participants at the rally, sat in a beach chair along North Orange Avenue, holding her sign high and encouraging passing drivers to honk.
Berg said she was part of the women’s movement in the early 1970s, which focused on voter mobilization, expanding women’s political power and policy reform.
Five decades later, she said, she was back out in the streets for a similar cause.
“I think that the young voters are getting motivated by what's going on,” she said. “Voting is extremely important, and it's a way we can change things, sometimes the only way.”
At 18, Damian McCulloch is preparing to vote in their first midterm election. But he said getting young people to the polls takes more than encouraging their generation to participate, it also means turning to older generations for guidance.
“The next generation is going to be the most influenced by what we do now, and the older generations are the ones who can do it,” McCulloch said. “We need them for their wisdom, and we need the younger people to be informed.”
He said it’s important for young people to remember voting is “our inalienable right.”
“It's a lot of work, but it's worth it because participating in the democratic process is so important in our country,” he said. “Vote and be educated and join movements and speak up.”
And then there was the founding father spotted walking the streets of downtown Orlando, or at least a man dressed as one.
Charles Dockery said he wore the outfit because he’s a veteran, his reasoning for showing up for the No Kings rally.
“My father, my grandfather, my great grandfather, put on the uniform and fought for this country, and I think it is under the greatest threat right now,” he said.
Dockery sees voting as a way for people to help protect the Constitution.
“The system gives us the chance to get into power without having blood in the streets, that's one thing about this country that is so absolutely wonderful,” he said. “I love it, I'll fight for it, I'll stand here and wave signs, I'll vote for it, we have a good system, let's use it.”
Orlando 50501, Orlando’s No Kings host, has put on multiple No Kings rallies over the past two years, drawing tens of thousands of participants.
Speakers at Saturday’s event represented groups including the League of Women Voters, Central Florida Latino Action Network, the ACLU, Orlando Against Police Crimes and Black Voters Matter.
They encouraged Central Floridians to get involved in their communities and make their voices heard through early voting.
No Kings in The Villages
In The Villages, an hour's drive west of Orlando City Hall, No Kings protesters lined County Road 466A for about a quarter mile, waving signs opposing President Trump and calling for people to vote early.
It was one of four protest locations in America's largest retirement community.
"The theme ... is to get people to vote early. So we decided to hold four rallies at four busy intersections in The Villages so that we would meet and see as many people as we possibly could," said LaRae Donnellan, rally committee chair for the Villages Democratic Club.
She said there are "so many issues ... like the way he, President Trump chooses to spend his money on ballrooms rather than on feeding people. The impact of the war on our prices ... the Epstein files. Pick one. There's so many to choose from."
Donnellan later reported that 770 people took part in the rallies.
The crowd on CR 466A at Morse Boulevard stood in front of their golf carts between a path and the highway. They held signs saying such things as "No Kings," "Stand up for democracy," "Protect Social Security" and "In your gut you know he's nuts."
Some drivers honked their horns. A golf cart rider passing behind them called out: "Go Trump! Go Trump! Go Trump!"
The Villages is a conservative community mostly situated in Sumter County, where there are more Republican voters than Democrats and independents combined and where Trump and other members of the GOP easily won previous elections.
Donnellan said the protesters want people to know they're part of The Villages, too.
Central Florida Public Media
"I am so disgusted with what's going on in our government today -- the corruption, the lack of caring for the people in this country -- that I feel compelled to come out here and voice my opinion," 81-year-old Phil Demarest said. "And what I see here is a lot of people who are very, very angry, very angry, and they want change. And I'm part of that group."
Demarest is planning to vote early using vote-by-mail ballots next week, he said. "We're going to fill out the mail ballot. But we're going to walk to the place and actually deliver it in person. So, and we're talking to all our friends around us to try to do the same thing to get the ballots in, get them in early."
Seventy-five-year-old Peg Redmon said she's an independent voter fed up with Trump. She was holding a "Vote Blue" sign.
"My biggest issue is the economy because I co-lead a food pantry and our membership has just increased dramatically in the past few months because of the economy," Redmon said. "And they come three in a car because they can't afford gas or their own car, and that's the truth."
Redmon said she's already voted and made sure all her friends voted early, too.
"I have nine grandkids and six ... great grandbabies," she said. "I'm voting for them."
In Sumter County, more than 10% of eligible voters have already cast their ballot by mail.
So far about 6,200 Republicans have voted and 4,600 Democrats, which are a much bigger percentage of Democrats’ overall numbers.
