No Kings rallies draw thousands across Missouri, bolster initiative petition campaigns

By Annelise Hanshaw and Anna Spoerre
Missouri Independent

Thousands gathered in cities and towns all over Missouri Saturday at No Kings demonstrations to speak up against the many ways they believe the current administration — both at the federal and state level — is a threat to democracy.

And scattered among the crowds were volunteers with clipboards, collecting signatures for initiative petition campaigns hoping to make the 2026 ballot. 

(Photo- Protestors wave signs as thunder begins to rumble near the end of the No Kings demonstration at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City on Saturday- Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)

“We are just out here trying to make sure that the people hold the power and not politicians,” said Drew Amidei, a staff organizer for Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action, at the Jefferson City rally. 

This was the second nationwide No Kings mass gathering, with the first organized in June to coincide with a military parade in Washington, D.C., that commemorated the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army and President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.

Since then, Missourians have found more reasons to organize at the state level, said Sue Rodgers, spokesperson for We Stand United Missouri. The organization led the Jefferson City rally at the State Capitol, where hundreds of protesters turned out despite a rainy afternoon.

Rogers pointed to last month’s move by Missouri lawmakers to push forward a gerrymandered congressional map requested by Trump and a ballot measure to make it harder for citizens to amend the state’s constitution.

“There’s more specific issues at this point,” Rodgers told The Independent. “We see more evidence of the authoritarian power grabs and executive overreach.”

Even a thunderstorm in St. Louis wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of protesters.

“I know it’s raining. I know it’s a little cool,” former Democratic U.S. Rep. Cori Bush told a crowd of more than a thousand people gathered in downtown St. Louis amid the thunderstorm. “But you all, this is nothing in comparison to the reign that we’ll have to live through if we don’t resist the Donald Trump administration.”

Jefferson City

Rodgers pointed to organizations with tents surrounding the Missouri State Capitol lawn with volunteers collecting signatures for three petition campaigns.

“We definitely have more of a focus this time on the initiative petitions and redistricting,” she said.

A petition seeking a statewide vote on the gerrymandered Missouri redistricting plan circulated during the demonstration, with groups like Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action and Respect Missouri Voters collecting signatures.

To them, the citizen-led petitions embody the spirit of No Kings — with voters asserting power and calling out leadership they believe is acting autocratic.

“No Kings is a good time to get this message out because both this referendum and this rally are really about empowering the people of Missouri,” Amidei said. “It’s really about asserting our democratic values.”

He told The Independent there was a “good amount of foot traffic” as he collected signatures for a petition seeking a statewide vote on the gerrymandered Missouri redistricting plan.

Organizers wanted voters’ rights to be emphasized while creating an uplifting environment.

“We encouraged them to come in costumes, have fun,” Rodgers said. “Everyone needs a little space to let off anxious energy and find out they are not alone.”

Rodgers was one of a handful of women dressed as suffragettes who spoke during the Jefferson City rally about women’s contributions to democracy.

Another speaker, assistant attorney general Greg Barnes, dressed as James Madison to warn demonstrators of threats to the U.S. Constitution. He spoke about Trump’s mentions of a third term.

But not every costume had an obvious nod to democracy. Others dressed as dinosaurs in inflatable costumes, and one organizer wore a Cheeto costume.

Respect Missouri Voters organizer Lindsay Browning, dressed in a cow onesie, told the crowd that the costumes are intentional.

“When we’re silly, we expose them as frauds,” she said. “Fascists can’t promote lies about dangerous, left-wing terrorists when we keep showing up unarmed wearing costumes.”

Unlike in June, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe did not declare a state of emergency ahead of Saturday’s rallies. At the time, Kehoe said his decision to activate the Missouri National Guard was a “precautionary measure” in the case of “events that are occurring or could occur.”

“We respect, and will defend, the right to peacefully protest,” Kehoe said in a statement at the time, “but we will not tolerate violence or lawlessness in our state.”

Kehoe is currently being sued by Lucas Cierpiot, a disability-rights activist from Blue Springs, and the son of a Republican state senator, over his decision to activate troops over the summer.

Local news outlets reported that the June protests remained uneventful between demonstrators and police.

St. Louis

The crowd at Keiner Plaza in downtown St. Louis brought with it ample American flags, ponchos and an occasional inflatable costume.

“Fight looks like marching in the streets. Fight looks like collecting signatures,” state Rep. Ray Reed, a Democrat from St. Louis, told the crowd. “ … Fight looks like putting your name on a ballot.”

Brice Bloom-Ellis, 69, of St. Louis, stood several yards away holding a sign demanding the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. But ICE was front of mind.

“I’m totally opposed to masked federal police snatching people off the street,” said Bloom-Ellis, who works in child welfare. “It’s just unbelievable that that’s happening in this country.”

He was also appalled by Missouri’s new congressional map, which he called nothing but a “power grab.”

Bloom-Ellis was far from the only one upset that the governor took the president’s request to redraw the congressional map in favor of Republicans to heart.

Tullia Hamilton, 77, of St. Louis, said she’s never met Kehoe, but if she did, she knows what she would tell him: 

“I don’t know you, but chances are you’re three times the man Donald Trump is,” said Hamilton, a retired history professor. “Why are you bowing to him? He’s a small person.”

Beside Hamilton stood by her good friend, Dr. Seth Eisen, 84, the director of Washington University’s Clinical Rheumatology Research Program, who brought a sign that read: “hands off science.”

“It’s really a throw-back for science and also for health care in St. Louis specifically, but in the state and in the nation as well,” said Hamilton, who in recent months has seen NIH funding decreased, studies halted, and colleagues leave academia for the pharmaceutical industry.

“What’s happening now is going to impact research for 10 years,” he said. “Even if it were to change today.”

Ryan Maliff, 35, of Webster Groves, who works in health care, is already seeing the impact on Missourians, including his patients who can no longer afford insulin.

“A lot of what’s been done to gut the protections for Medicare and Medicaid, it’s affecting my work, it’s affecting my patients,” he said.

As the group rounded out its march through downtown, which lasted nearly two hours, Ari Jones-Bradley, 49, said she’s spent the past several months feeling hopeless, alone and terrified for the world her four sons are growing up in.

“We’re headed into extremely dark times, and this is not the country my grandfather fought for,” Jones-Bradley said of her grandfather who served in World War II at the Battle of Iwo Jima.

But she said Saturday’s demonstration, which she called “electrifying,” shifted something in her.

“I’m mad,” Jones-Bradley said. “I’m fully energized again and I’m ready to fight.”