Anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ rally to return to State College this weekend. What to know
State College has so far played host to two anti-Trump “No Kings” rallies with the third scheduled for this weekend — and local organizers are expecting their biggest turnout yet.
The “No Kings” rallies, part of a nationwide series of demonstrations, were organized to largely combat what protesters see as an authoritarian overreach by President Donald Trump. There is not a singular issue; instead, attendees’ focuses range from lack of transparency with the Epstein files to the escalating war with Iran to funding ICE.
“We are expecting more than what we had last time, which was about 3,000,” said Suzanne Weinstein, a volunteer with Keystone Indivisible, a local group that’s organized dozens of other protests including Saturday’s.
The latest “No Kings” protest will kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday on the grounds of Penn State’s Old Main, where several speakers will address the crowd, before moving on to a march downtown. Organizers said they plan to remain on the sidewalks without impacting traffic, and they’ve already spoken with the State College Police Department.
The march is expected to finish back at Old Main around 3 p.m.
Before, during and after the rally, informational booths will be on-hand from organizations such as Centre County Rapid Response Network and Central PA United. Face-painting will also be available, as will a costume contest involving protesters’ inflatable costumes — as the costumes have fast become a symbolic weapon of nonviolence.
“This is a positive movement. It’s a nonthreatening movement. It’s a nonviolent movement,” said Christy Delafield, another volunteer with Keystone Indivisible. “And what’s more disarming than somebody in, like, an inflatable pig costume — or just bringing a little bit of a silliness or a family-friendliness element to it? It’s part of showing that this is about the community.”
The previous two “No Kings” protests — on June 14 and Oct. 18 — both rank among the largest single-day protests in American history. Locally, around 1,000 attended June’s rally while organizers estimated about 3,000 for October’s event.
There are no reliable estimates yet for this weekend’s protest. But, nationally, more than 5 million people are believed to have taken part in each of the last two “No Kings” protests. And, this weekend, at least 300 more protests are planned across the U.S. than in October.
More than 3,000 different demonstrations are scheduled Saturday — with other nearby protests in Altoona, Clearfield, Lock Haven and Mifflintown.
“It’s wonderful to do something like this and see the impact that it has on people and know that what we’re doing is expanding the number of people who are going to get involved in this and make a difference,” Weinstein said.
Since Trump took office in January 2025, an aggregate of at least five polls — compiled by CNN — shows the president’s approval rating gradually falling. At the start of February 2025, his approval rating stood at 48%, and it’s now at 38%.
As those approval ratings have tumbled, attendance at these and other protests have only increased. Keystone Indivisible started with just seven volunteers in December 2024, and they’re now up to 70. Protesters have previously told the CDT they’ve had enough of the administration favoring billionaires over bus riders, saying Trump’s behavior and temperament make him unfit for office.
He’s taken criticism for seemingly flip-flopping on the war in Iran, declaring the war was “won” Tuesday with reports then surfacing Wednesday that at least 2,000 more troops would be deployed. He’s constantly attempted to downplay the Epstein files even as multiple other countries — from France to Norway to Poland — have launched their own investigations. And he’s taken heat over ICE enforcement, with priorities that appear to favor arrest quotas over targeting serious criminals.
Delafield and Weinstein rattled off multiple other issues, from rising prices to what they see as questionable political appointments. The bottom line, they said, is Centre County’s fed up and so is America.
And they’re hoping Saturday serves as a step toward change.
“The most important thing for people to know is that they’re not alone — that if they are watching what’s happening in the world today, they have the ability to take action,” Delafield said. “And this is a tremendously large group of people who are from very different political affiliations, from very different backgrounds, but are coming together because, collectively, we believe in our Democracy and in our Constitution.
“We want to see an end to the war in Iran. We want to see a full release of the Epstein files. We want to see any number of changes, and we know that those changes can be achieved if we work together and take collective action.”
