A number of days after opponents of Donald Trump’s presidency celebrated high-profile Democratic election victories, organizers of weekly anti-Trump protests in Contra Costa County additionally have been feeling a way of validation — significantly that Proposition 50, which can briefly redraw California’s congressional districts to learn Democrats, received in a landslide.
To them, the Prop. 50 win in California, in addition to Democrats’ success in races in New York Metropolis, New Jersey and Virginia, proved that common folks can get outcomes, both by exhibiting up on the huge No Kings protests that passed off in 60 Bay Space places final month, or by volunteering to make cellphone calls, knock on doorways or do no matter else is required to develop their grass-roots resistance.
“More and more people are feeling comfortable getting out and expressing their political views in public,” stated Kathryn Durham-Hammer, one of many leaders of the Indivisible ReSisters in Contra Costa County. “They are hearing and seeing their friends, family, neighbors and colleagues speaking up. They are realizing that we the people do have power when we connect with each other and act together.”
However to these trustworthy to Trump, the resistance motion doesn’t quantity to a big opposition to his management. Jan Soule, president of the Silicon Valley Affiliation of Conservative Republicans, argued that even the 7 million People who marched in No Kings protests on Oct. 18 symbolize solely a small proportion of the overall U.S. inhabitants and stated she doubts they symbolize a real grassroots rebellion.
Soule additionally stated anti-Trump protests might find yourself being detrimental to Democrats as a result of demonstrators appear bent on “creating chaos.” She stated, “All they’re really achieving is that people with common sense, including Democrats, are wondering, ‘Is this really the party I want to be a part of?’”
Nevertheless, no protests would sign to Trump and the GOP that they’ve widespread public assist “and can do whatever they want,” Kodnik stated. In an interview earlier than Tuesday’s election, he stated the passage of Prop. 50 would “be a tangible sign” that the protests are “translating into actual success at the ballot box.”
“How much of this would have happened if they hadn’t seen thousands, if not millions of people, regularly hitting the streets?” Lazzarra continued.
Hundreds of demonstrators participate within the No Kings protest in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. The march started at Wilma Chan Park and ended on the Lake Merritt amphitheater, the place Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, and different neighborhood members delivered speeches. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
Dan Schnur, a former GOP political marketing consultant and professor at UC Berkeley and USC, is just not positive how a lot the protests moved the needle on Prop. 50. Those that supported it already have been inclined to oppose the president — a sentiment that the Sure on 50 marketing campaign capitalized on. The place the protests probably had an impression is on voter turnout in an off-year election, he stated. “So if people who don’t like Trump were a bit wishy-washy on voting, they might have heard about the protests and saw all this energy around them and thought, ‘Maybe I should do something,’” he stated.
One rapid impression of protests is that they create a way of neighborhood the place “people feel like they’re part of something larger than themselves,” stated Melissa Michelson, a political science professor and the dean of arts and sciences at Menlo School.
However one protest, or perhaps a collection, is not going to make a distinction, Michelson stated. “They need to be sustained,” she stated. “They need to be large. It needs to get to the degree where policymakers feel like they can no longer ignore.”
Individuals collect for the No Kings protest at St. James Park in downtown San Jose on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)
Marsha Andersen, a retiree from Harmony, understands folks’s skepticism concerning the protests’ impression, however to her and others dedicated to standing as much as Trump’s actions, they really feel they don’t have any alternative however to point out up at weekly protests as a lot as doable to specific issues about his efforts to develop his energy.
“I feel like I should stand up,” stated Michele Hart, of San Ramon. She was one among 8,000 individuals who attended the Oct. 18 No Kings Protest in Walnut Creek. A complete of 162,000 to 224,000 folks joined rallies within the Bay Space on that day. “I am truly scared, because it’s only getting worse, and I am out here to fight.”
Schnur sees parallels between the anti-Trump protests and the Tea Get together motion, one other grassroots trigger began by folks annoyed by the established order. The Tea Get together initially gained traction amongst Republicans opposing Barack Obama’s Reasonably priced Care Act, however set in movement a political realignment that delivered Trump to the White Home in 2016 and 2024, Schnur defined.
“(These protests) don’t magically solve the problems that protesters are concerned about,” Schnur stated. “But they represent an important step forward.” As with the Tea Get together motion, the anti-Trump trigger might want to prioritize points and have these championed by decision-makers in state capitals and in Congress, Schnur added.
Durham-Hammer stated Indivisible volunteers plan to maintain up the momentum and have ready in case the Trump administration tries to clamp down on demonstrations. Their present precedence helps folks with hearings on the federal Immigration Court docket in Harmony and helping native meals banks in amassing and distributing meals to folks whose SNAP funds have been delayed.
“The protests continue to this day,” added Andersen, with this Saturday’s Indivisible ReSisters Contra Costa protest scheduled for Nice Hill Metropolis Corridor. “Whether it’s at Immigration Court or showing up at various Saturday locations or freeway overpasses, people are still strong and realize they can’t stop just because of these victories on Tuesday.”
