This weekend, nationwide “No Kings” rallies took place all over the country, protesting the Trump administration.
Demonstrators across the Southern Tier, including in Ithaca, Corning and Binghamton, gathered for the second “No Kings” rally in five months.
The rallies were peaceful overall, with little police presence and few counterprotesters.
Binghamton
The courthouse square in Binghamton was packed with people, some in unicorn, chicken, dinosaur and dragon blow up suits.
Some demonstrators were new to “No Kings,” like Nicole Rogers, who showed up with her two kids and foster daughter. They were all attending a “No Kings” protest for the first time. Rogers’ youngest is 4-year-old Khalid.
Rogers teared up when she spoke about why she decided to come.
“This touches me hard because my youngest has developmental disabilities,” Rogers said. “And Trump just slashed the Department of Education and a lot of staff. And it affects me personally and Khalid personally because he might not get the services that he needs. So that is why I’m here.”
Rogers said because of the services her son receives that are funded by the Department of Education, Khalid is thriving. She worries if those programs get eliminated for good, he will regress.
Hundreds of people showed up to Binghamton’s rally. Some demonstrators said there were more people present than at the first “No Kings” rally in June.
Ithaca
Demonstrators rallied once again in Ithaca to protest against the Trump administration. Thousands gathered in Washington Square park, with some attendees donning inflatable costumes that have become a symbol of anti-Trump protests across the country.
Melissa Blake is a founder and steering committee member with Indivisible Tompkins, one of the groups that organized the protest.
She described the protests as a “love letter to America” and said that her organization is focusing on "giving people hope and helping them take action.”
Blake said things have, if anything, gotten worse across the country since the first “No Kings” protest. But she believes the nationwide rallies have influenced recent actions by Congressional Democrats.
“They're hearing that we value health care over capitulation to the Republicans, and we're giving them some spine,” Blake said. “I think they hear us.”
Blake is hoping that the universities in the Ithaca area will hear them too.
She said Ithaca College and Cornell University should reject any federal demands for changes to their hiring and enrollment or their curriculum.
Corning
The city of Corning’s downtown was packed by approximately 600 hundred protesters.
The event was led by local grassroots organizations Indivisible Corning-Elmira and Citizens for a Better Southern Tier.
Drivers honked in support as they drove down Market Street and participants waved American flags as they gathered in Centerway Square. Demonstrators came from Chemung County to Chautauqua County.
Some attendees showed up in costumes to protest. There was a unicorn, a panda and a pigeon named “chicken nugget.”
Organizers said the rally is a response to “authoritarianism, political overreach and the erosion of democratic norms” by the Trump administration.
Rachel Barbour and Colleen Boland, spokespersons for Indivisible Corning-Elmira and Citizens for a Better Southern Tier, respectively, said that the groups are “deeply concerned about the destruction of the checks and balances of our government, the consolidation of power within one brand and the attacks on the rule of law.”
Barbour and Boland expressed that Republican Congressman Nick Langworthy, who represents New York’s 23rd Congressional District, has “emboldened” the President’s disregard for the Constitution.
“Our congressman wants to divide us and paint us as left wing partisans, but we are a diverse group who are concerned that our own member of Congress doesn’t seem to care that his votes are hurting his constituents,” Barbour and Boland said in a statement.
In response, Langworthy told WSKG in an email that “Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real disease.”
Langworthy speaks with constituents in monthly telephone town halls. He has not held an in-person town hall to meet and hear from his constituents since he took office in 2023.
At one point during Boland’s speech at Saturday’s event, the crowd chanted, “Unseat Nick, unseat Nick.”
Steuben County Republican Committee Chair Joe Sempolinski, who also represents Assembly District 148 in Allegany, Cattaraugus and parts of Steuben counties, said the Constitution is very clear about who makes laws and who executes them.
“Congress makes the law and then the President makes sure that those laws are executed,” said Sempolinski. “So, to somehow say that we are moving out of some sort of democratic process, I think is unfair to President Trump and I think it’s unfair to those who support President Trump.”
Sempolinski said everybody has the right to express their political opinion, peacefully. However, he added Trump’s “not a monarch. He is a duly elected President of the United States.”
“We’re in a situation where [the] majority of folks have a different opinion to the ‘No Kings’ protesters and those opinions have been repeatedly expressed on Election Day with victory after victory for Republicans in the region,” he said.
Sempolinski’s district has more than twice as many registered Republicans as Democrats.
Overall, Corning’s “No Kings” event was peaceful, with some counterprotesters who came to support President Trump and his policies. There was no local police presence or signs of disorderly conduct.
Topics raised by participants included local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agreements, cuts to Medicaid, food insecurity and financial strains felt by local farmers.
Chautauqua County business owner and dairy farmer Jeff Winton spoke to attendees about how Trump tariffs on soybean exports are affecting farmers due to a multi-billion dollar deal made with Argentina.
“We should not be giving that to another country,” said Winton. “The worst part, it's our money. It's our hard earned taxpayer dollars. The worst part is now in turn, Argentina, because they're flush with cash, has dropped their tariffs on soybeans with China. So guess who China is buying all their soybeans from now? From Argentina.”
Winton went on to tell the crowd that because of the immigration policies, even documented agricultural workers are staying away from the U.S. and the Southern Tier region out of fear of their families being taken away by ICE.
“Now we are struggling to find people to milk our cows,” said Winton. “Over where I farm, we have a lot of grape farms over in Lake Erie. There's nobody left to pick the grapes. Some of the grapes are harvested by equipment. You still need people to run the equipment. A lot of our grapes are hand picked, especially for table grapes. There's nobody left to pick grapes now, so you think the price of groceries are high now? Just wait.”
Event spokespersons said the groups will continue to organize around issues of health care, food insecurity, local economic stresses and on attacks to marginalized communities—including veterans.
