(Ohio Capital Journal Photo) No Kings protesters at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Saturday.

By Marty Schladen

Special to The Times

Organizers estimated that 27,000 marched from the Ohio Statehouse through downtown Columbus Saturday as part of the third No Kings protest against Donald Trump and his administration.

Earlier in the day, an estimated 23,000 turned out for smaller protests around central Ohio, an organizer said. Those and thousands of other protests drew an estimated 8 million across the country to speak out against Trump’s war in Iran, mass deportations, deep cuts to the social safety net, and other policies.

On the Statehouse lawn, people registered to vote and signed petitions on issues such as forcing members of Columbus City Council to actually run in the districts they claim to represent.

(Ohio Capital Journal Photo) No Kings protesters rally with signs at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Saturday.

Gary Daniels, legislative director of the ACLU of Ohio, told the crowd that Trump and his allies are doing all they can to undermine democracy in other ways.

“These same people who consider themselves royalty and the rest of us their subjects are dead set against anyone thinking they’re going to vote their way out of any amount of this mess they have created, and that’s why they keep making it harder to vote,” he said.

Earlier in the day, about 450 came out on a cool, clear morning to join a protest in Reynoldsburg.

Ken Harmon, 81, held a sign saying “Republicans. Please help save our democracy.” He said he’s trying to persuade people with whom he has things in common.

“I am a registered Republican,” he said. “But as far as my voting in recent years, very seldom have I voted Republican. I did vote once for (Gov.) Mike DeWine. And I still have respect for him. But I also voted once for (U.S. Sen.) Jon Husted, and I’m embarrassed about it today. He’s done a terrible job. Just a complete Trump man.”

Fourteen months into Trump’s second term violent immigration raids, an unexplained war with Iran and inflationary tariffs have most voting groups souring on Trump.

Harmon said things are getting bad enough that disengaged Americans are ready to tune in.

“Many Republicans, they’re not bad people,” he said. “Many people are just so absorbed in their own lives, trying to earn a living, trying to raise their kids. They don’t take the time to follow the news. And I think many people just don’t know what’s happening in this world. I’m reaching out to those kinds of people.”

Cece Burton, 25, said the war in Iran was one reason she was protesting.

“Something needs to change,” she said. “My sign says ‘No New Wars.’ Guess who they’re sending to wars? People my age. People younger than me. I have two younger brothers and a cousin in the military. This is senseless. I don’t want them over there dying for no reason.”

But it was only one reason.

“The job market, the housing market — I also work in education — it’s everything,” Burton said. “Every point in my life has been touched by this president in some way, shape or form,” she said. “None of it’s been good.”

In Columbus, things got off to a slow start around 4 p.m. as people avoided the shadows on a chilly Ohio Statehouse lawn. There appeared to be fewer people than the last No Kings protest on Oct. 18, when an estimated 15,000 turned out.

“I think people arrived late and that was the difference,” said Robyn Harper, who estimated the crowd size on behalf of the organizers. “It felt like there weren’t as many people as there were in October.”

But the crowd built toward a march through downtown. When it took place, it was large enough to choke city streets for as long as a mile as it went west and then north to Spring Street before looping back.

Harper said she estimated the density of the crowd in different areas and used a computer application to come up with her estimate of 27,000.

On the Statehouse lawn, Carla Dilley of Bexley said the massive crowds that showed up on Saturday should encourage Republicans in Congress to stand up to Trump.

“I’m here out of anger over everything Trump is doing and what the Republicans are letting him do, betraying their oath to the Constitution as an equal branch of the government,” she said. “They are just laying down and doing whatever he wants as if he were already a king. It’s despicable and disgusting.”

Hours earlier in Reynoldsburg, Heather Graham, 34, said that as distressing as she finds the second Trump administration, the protests are happy events. So much so that the former Army medic became an organizer.

“I’m not a social person,” she said. “I don’t do this kind of stuff. But when I come to these events and I get to see everybody… they’re in such a good mood, while people are so mad on Facebook. I just want to tell people, ‘go to a protest.’ Nobody’s mad here. We love each other. This is a community.”

Original story can be found at https://ohiocapitaljournal.com