By Domenic Strazzabosco
The People’s March Seattle gathered Saturday morning in Capitol Hill’s frost-covered Cal Anderson Park, 48 hours before Donald Trump was set to be sworn into his second non-consecutive term in office. An estimated 3,500 people marched down Pine and toward the Seattle Center.
A much smaller event than the demonstrations eight years ago from the Seattle Women’s March organizers, those who showed up Saturday as part of marches across the country still wanted their voices to be heard and their signs seen.
“I have goosebumps just seeing all the like-minded people coming together,” said Mariah Doty, who attended the rally with a friend. “It absolutely feels powerful.”
Tom Schleichert, when asked about what he hoped his young daughters would gain from attending the rally, said, “To know that they’re not alone.” Seeing so many people come together to speak about women deserving power and equality, he described as empowering and special. One of his daughter’s signs read “No Mean Laws” and the other, “We Vote For Girls.”
Eight years ago, tens of thousands of people participated in Seattle’s Women’s March to mark Trump’s first inauguration. Another 100,000 marched in 2018. Much has changed in 2025 after the Republican’s surging return to the White House. Separate marches and demonstrations were also planned around the region including a rally in West Seattle.
Monday, crowds will also rally and march as part of Seattle’s annual MLK Day celebrations starting at Garfield High School.
‘We Rise Against Project 2025’ — MLK Day march part of weekend of rallies and protest in Seattle
Saturday’s event, which had the same organizers and is again taking place across the country, was renamed the People’s March Seattle to be more inclusive.
Smaller in size, organizers said the 2025 message of the People’s March was wider in scope. Though abortion and women’s healthcare signs dotted the crowd, there was a mix of others noting support of LGBTQ+ rights, democracy, journalism, the environment, Palestine, and public education, as well as others against capitalism, oligarchies, and billionaires in politics.
Despite organizers calling for a focus on domestic issues, the conflict in Gaza was strongly reflected in the crowd.
“This has been rebranded as the People’s March, and it is the People’s March,” Lisa Price, who helped organize the event, told CHS in the days leading up to Saturday’s march. Price was involved with previous Women’s Marches, and described them as being rot with issues between white women and women of color that were reflective of historical power struggles. This time around, “the speakers will be very representative of the people — BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and you know, white folks, too,” she said.
Rally speakers included drag queen Aleksa Manila, who described being asked to host the rally as an immediate yes and “a call to action,” newly sworn-in Governor Bob Ferguson, who emphasized his commitment to defending the state against Trump, U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, who said that she’d be volunteering at a local food bank instead of attending the inauguration, and president of the regional NAACP, Sheley Secrest who pronounced from the stage, “The power of the people has always been stronger than the people in power.”
Franklin High School junior Royal Olebar-Hughs of the Makah Nation and Oglala Lakota advocate and activist Monique “Muffie” Mousseau helped represent indigenous voices.
Alison Jowers, who recently moved to Seattle and attended Saturday’s march, said the voices of all these groups needs to be heard.
“The People’s March feels to me like it’s all-encompassing of how we’re going to stick together and fight for every marginalized group,” Jowers said.
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What’s funny is that since a majority of white women voted for Trump, it just seems like they are bragging.
You really think this was the case in King County? Don’t make your (far left) hyperbole as silly and untruthful as that which you are purportedly up against. It doesn’t help, and is a large part of why we’re at where we’re at today.
There was a bunch of kids of all ages. It was a 2 mile hike. So the little ones were in a stroller or wagon. But the bigger 8-10 year olds were out there holding up the signs they made. It was also freezing temps. Even Shrumpy MAGA tough guys couldn’t brave the cold today.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
In Seattle, only about 8% of people voted for trump, but of course we were the outlier.
It pains me that there wasn’t a bigger turnout. Where are the youth?? We aren’t going to destroy fascism with a bunch of geriatric boomer wine moms.
Aw man, E Trox older people always blame the youth, youth always blame the older generations.
Did you go to the rally yourself??
Being a young person myself, I like to protest but I also recognize protests can draw some intense people…sometimes it´s hard to want to go because you don´t want to get associated with that. People can be violent or anti-police, or sticking rainbows on everything (people deserve equal rights but some of the overuse of these symbols just repel potential conservative allies, in the same way that their overuse of the American flag and other symbols repels people from the other side of the spectrum). If anyone has the answer to how to keep a movement relatively moderate and focused, I would love to hear that.
youth blame older generations because they can not vote.
MLK has some words for you on that…
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Could you sum up your point after long-winded post about “The Negro”?
It’s a quote from the Letter from Birmingham Jail, a piece of American writing that should be read widely and often, not just on MLK Day, but it was a fitting time for it with Emma so encapsulating the 21st century version of what Dr King wrote about here. Would you like me to censor his words to make you feel more comfortable?
Incredible to me how well you just made yourself the example of the liberal who prefers negative peace, refusing to read the literal (and extremely prescient) words of MLK because… you were offended by the initial wording?
Seriously. What a bunch of self-assured fappery.
Interesting that you mentioned direct action. Direct Action doesn’t mean throwing bricks into windows or tagging buildings with performative words. Direct Actions has been been misconstrued over the years more so with what we’ve seen with the 2020-2021 marches and the Gaza protests which were infiltrated by provocateurs (aka Black Bloc). I personally believe it’s the same provocateurs who’ve turned more people away from protests and marches.
King’s own words on what direct action is:
Provocateurs we’re a problem then too, and not a part of the movement, just as they were then, and not actually part of the movement. If you actually followed the news you would know that the majority of violence during the Floyd Uprisings were from unaffiliated anarchists and/or white supremacists looking to stir things up, that’s always been a tactic to disrupt social movements.
MLK was also considered a provocateur and extremist by mainstream society at the time, yet too cautious for many in the movement. This is a discussion as old as time and one that MLK understood, “violence is the language of the unheard”, even if it is not condoned.
Thanks for the reminder that both the left and the right agree on one thing: older women disgust them.
pretty sure we just had an election that confirmed that….
You’ve got to be kidding !!!!
Oh, sorry, he clearly meant “geriatric boomer wine mom” with love. You’re so right.
I’m with you, it’s a totally unnecessary and lame punch down at folks that actually showed up to this event. Ad-hoc attacks in general are unhelpful, particularly when many of these older women have already fought for abortion and many other rights once before and are out here again.
We need to do more as a society to create multigenerational communities and spaces. We live in an increasingly cohorted society that slices us up into as many possible marketing demographics as possible, rather than finding ways to get together for positive community building. These are some of the few events where you can still find this type of community building.
those signs are all 10’s! Sorry, I am just getting this in. The Russian judge gave them a 4.9
Much fewer people in my neighborhood are emotionally opposed to Trump this time.
I don’t think so… I think people are simply worn out and too tired to bother pointing out yet again the hypocrisy, corruption and plain disgustingness that enough people apparently wanted in power and that far, far too many were simply too apathetic to even vote against (more registered voters simply didn’t vote than voted for the winner)… May they get everything they asked for. Wake me up in 3.5 years for the next election.
There’s something to this that is being handwaved away but people are just at large tired and beaten down by all this shit.
I swear, my politics and everything aside for a moment, it just feels like we’re in a collective depressive episode with no signs of abatement. I have my theories, but to your point in two places:
Yeah, too tired and going to sleepwalk through the next 3.5 years because what else is there to do even from some objective fulfillment POV?
What difference has anything I’ve done in the previous 8-10 years made? Especially right now, anything reasonable people even try to say or do will just be dismissed as ‘hysterical’… I suppose now I’m cynically hoping that it will be so incredibly bad by the end of the next 4 that we can have a collective ‘see, we told you so’ moment and then just get back to some rational, fact based governance..
There’s something so off about it, like, ‘how dare you be worried about an obviously worrisome thing in pretty plain ways and find your folks about it’, like…some folks really resent people seeking people in hard times.
I’m not for stopping or belittling anyone for organizing or protesting if they want to… I salute them for still having the energy.
I still vote blue on the federal level and am appalled that Trump was re-elected, but I despise what the left did to Seattle. I was marching last time, but am sitting this one out until the left learns some lessons and demonstrates that they can govern not just virtue signal.
The Left is going to need to put more than a token amount of people into any legislative body first?
100%
“left did to Seattle”?
Ummmm…Their revenue that you and people like you fought against. Is the revenue the current council stole to balance THEIR budget. 300 million dollars.
So we the mainstream progressives balanced the budget and rescued us from austerity.
You are forgetting who constructed the expanded programs and allocated pay raises for city employees which made the deficit inevitable. That was the progressive council. The more moderate council, in office for just one year, has been tasked with addressing that deficit.
“what left did to Seattle” you mean centrists non-Dems like Harrell who were on council for 12 years and mayor for 4? Give me a break.
I think you’re referring to the city and county councils of 2015-2023
The hysteria of the reactionaries in Trumps first term was unbearable. I sense that like the masses are more focused and objective this time around. Lets accomplish some things.
Excuse me…. if it was ‘hysterical and reactionary’ to go out and peacefully march in 2016 WTF what exactly was it to violently storm the Capitol Building in an inane attempt over turn an election in 2021?
Both were bad?
There’s nothing bad about expressing your opinion…
This is Seattle, so let’s be accurate: It is indeed very bad to express an opinion critical of the progressive agenda, even in support of the desired results. Just ask smoothtooperate.
A self guided tour?
Right – complete with improvised toilets and self serve souvenirs, not to mention the fun and entertainment of practicing one’s hand to hand combat skills with real pros..
lol…Pretty much….They all have one thing in common. Single digit IQ’s.
Thank you to the brave people who showed up in person. I´m sad I was busy but I deleted my Instagram, Facebook and Amazon account this weekend.
What’s brave about it?