No Kings events held Saturday to push voting, billed as nonpartisan
No Kings held events across the US on Saturday to get people to vote, The Associated Press and Fox News reported. Organizers billed the events as nonpartisan. But Fox News found protesters in Alexandria, Virginia, urging people to "vote blue," though the group's spokesperson said it is not partisan.
No Kings events were held in cities across the US on Saturday to urge people to vote in the midterm elections, The Associated Press and Fox News reported. Organizers billed the events as nonpartisan, the outlets reported.
The hundreds of planned events built on nearly two years of No Kings marches by people upset with President Donald Trump's presidency, the AP reported. A few hundred people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in chilly weather, with signs reading "VOTE EARLY" and "HANDS OFF MY VOTE!" the AP reported. At a rally in Atlanta, City Councilman Michael Julian Bond urged the crowd to vote before the November 3 election. "The Constitution gives you one power, right? That is the power to vote," he said, according to the AP.
In Alexandria, Virginia, a 26-year-old protester said her message was "vote blue," Fox News reported. National organizers' written rules bar calls to "vote Blue" or to elect Democrats, Fox News reported. Near the White House, another protester at an official No Kings event said, "Yes, this is a partisan protest," Fox News reported.
Eunic Epstein-Ortiz, a national spokesperson for No Kings, said the group is a "nonpartisan, peaceful movement that has brought millions of Americans together to stand up for democracy, defend our freedoms, and reject authoritarianism," according to Fox News. "Many people utilize the No Kings name as a rallying cry," she said, according to Fox News. The outlet noted that partisan remarks by individual protesters do not by themselves show that organizers broke election law.
No national turnout total for Saturday's events had been published.
The events came as the Trump administration sued California election officials on Thursday over ballots from people it calls likely noncitizens, the AP reported. Trump has claimed without evidence that voter fraud cost him the 2020 election, the AP reported.
What we know: No Kings held events across the US on Saturday to push people to vote, and organizers called them nonpartisan.
What we don't: How many people took part nationwide.
Where outlets agree The AP and Fox News report that No Kings events were held across the US on Saturday and that organizers billed them as nonpartisan.
Where they differ The outlets cited here report the same key facts so far.