Thousands of people on Saturday made their disdain for US President Donald Trump heard at a rally and march in Chicago aimed at galvanizing support for Democrats in next month’s midterm elections.
A giant “Baby Trump” balloon flew over the crowd, he was depicted as “El Diablo” on a flag and demonstrators waved “Vote Blue” banners — the message was unmistakable.
Angered by the bitter fight over new US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and what they called the “anti-woman agenda” of the Trump administration and the Republican Party, women — and men — descended on the city’s picturesque Grant Park.
Photo: AFP
The “March to the Polls” event — which began in the downtown park and wrapped up after a two-blocks-long crowd marched to the center of the business district — came just as voter registration deadlines near in most US states and early voting ramped up in more than a dozen states including Illinois.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared in a video message played on a giant screen, encouraging people to register to vote.
“Imagine being able to hold this administration accountable,” Clinton said, echoing the general sentiment that the election is a barometer of Trump’s popularity.
The demonstration included a street festival-like “Voter Village,” where dozens of community groups and politicians set up booths to reach new voters and encourage political involvement.
“We wanted to lead into the midterms and encourage women to get out and vote,” said Jessica Scheller, head of Women’s March Chicago, which organized the event.
The loud crowd of thousands of men, women and even children, marched through downtown Chicago chanting: “Vote them out.”
Some were encouraged to head to early voting stations nearby to cast ballots.
Iyahna Wilson, a 19-year-old volunteer who assisted in the march, voted for the first time — motivated by racial justice issues and gender rights.
“I never really thought that my vote was going to make a change,” Wilson told reporters moments after she exited a downtown polling station, raising her hands up in celebration.
It is that mindset that organizers were fighting to change with an event they specifically aimed to take place in the run-up to the election.
“I would like women to take charge of the midterms,” protester Sarah Sieracki told reporters.
The 23-year-old from the nearby Republican-dominated state of Indiana was the type of voter organizers were hoping to encourage to get involved.
She was carrying a “Grab ‘em by the midterms” sign — a play on an infamous remark made by Trump.
“Women need to vote. They need to get out,” Sieracki said. “We need to rally the young millennials and the people coming up, turning 18.”
The rally symbolized the political rancor generated by the partisan fight over Kavanaugh’s confirmation, despite sexual assault allegations and powerful testimony against him by his accuser Christine Blasey Ford.
All but one US Senate Republican voted to confirm Kavanaugh to a lifetime appointment on the US Supreme Court. All but one Democrat voted against.
“It is infuriating to women to watch that display that we watched in that Senate committee hearing and to see that that man was still confirmed,” Scheller said. “Women are angry. And we’re starting to feel comfortable being angry.”
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