Aircraft mechanic Gregory Mann at the No Kings protest in St. Petersburg, Florida on Oct. 18, 2025. Credit: Mitch Perry / Florida Phoenix
Floridians massed throughout the state Saturday for the second national No Kings day demonstrations against the increasingly authoritarian second Trump administration, marked as it is by aggressive immigration enforcement and prosecutions of the president’s enemies.
Events had been planned in nearly 100 Florida cities and towns, according to organizers.
In Miami, an estimated 5,000 people clad in American flags, golden crowns, and frog and Sasquatch costumes flooded Bayfront Park to chant against Trump.
The event, which saw thousands of global demonstrations, drew Miamians of every age. It was held in front of the Torch of Friendship, a 1960 monument built as a beacon to welcome immigrants.
One disruption hit the Miami gathering when Barry Ramey and another member of the white nationalist group the Proud Boys briefly showed up to counter-protest. Ramey was one of the men sentenced for rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. City police quickly formed an escort to safely lead them out, as angry anti-Trump protesters screamed Spanish expletives at them.
In Tallahassee, a lively crowd packed the lawn in front of the Old Capitol and both sides of Monroe Street, waving signs at passing cars; many of their drivers honked their horns in solidarity.
A crowd estimated to be several thousand strong gathered along the four street corners in the Tyrone Square area of St. Petersburg. A Pinellas County teacher who wanted to be identified only by her first name of Marissa wore a cape of the American flag.
“I’m pretty worried that we’re losing our democracy, and I think we’re losing our way as Americans,” she said.
“I feel like the actions that the Trump administration is taking doesn’t represent our country or what our founders had as a vision for our country. And so I’m here today because of that. I love my country. I’m wearing a flag today because I want us to take back flags. I know the Republicans have talked about how we hate America. No, I love my country, and I hate what you are doing to it, Donald Trump.”
Approximately 2,000 gathered in Gainesville on the same day as University of Florida’s homecoming football game. They listened to poems, songs, and calls to action. A Phoenix reporter noticed no counter-protesters or any police.
In Sopchoppy, a small Wakulla County town 35 miles south of Tallahassee, a rally attracted around 30 people.The county is solidly Republican, with Trump winning nearly 72% of the vote in 2024. Gov. Ron DeSantis took 73% of the vote during his 2022 re-election bid.
Despite a small crowd, there was a heavy county sheriff’s presence — at least seven deputies to oversee the demonstrators and no more than 10 counterprotestors.
The protests took place as the federal government shutdown is now in its third week. The dispute revolves around Democrats pushing Republicans to reinstate the enhanced premium tax subsidies for those on the Affordable Care Act scheduled to expire at the end of this year.
“When Marjorie Taylor Greene starts becoming progressive, we know the GOP has screwed up,” said St. Petersburg resident Gregory Mann, referring to the Georgia Republican’s comments last week that she would go “against everyone on this issue” because the premium hikes would harm “my own adult children” and her constituents in northwest Georgia.
Hitler, Castro
Back in Miami, complaints ranged from mild criticisms of Trump to outright comparisons to Adolf Hitler and Fidel Castro, the long-reigning Cuban dictator whose revolution forced an exodus of millions of Cubans over decades to leave the island nation.
Many ended up in Miami. One is Jorge Cardelle, a 67-year-old Cuban-born U.S. veteran who served four years in the Navy and 16 in the Army.
“I’m here to protest how our government is being run. The abuses, the corruption — I was born in Cuba, and my parents left because of the corruption. What happened there is what’s happening here,” said Cardelle, wrapped in an American flag in front of a towering Ponce De Leon statue.
Other protesters who spoke to the Phoenix included a University of Miami law professor dressed as a frog, a grocer adorned in that Sasquatch costume, a 25-year-old artist, two retired nurses, the president of the University of Miami’s UDems, and a mayoral candidate running as a socialist.
Their beliefs ran along the same lines.
“He’s breaking my heart,” said Caroline Mala Corbin, the 57-year-old constitutional law professor at the nearby University of Miami.
“This is Hitler!” said Karen, a 72-year-old retired nurse. A Cuban-born Gen Z artist named Gamal echoed this in a portrait he hastily made the night before. Titled “Ice King,” it depicts a frozen Trump wearing a golden crown, with the Nazi SS symbol to his left.
“I wanted to make sure that the ice kind of resembles the SS symbol from the Nazis because we think he has kind of the same movement, going with the way that it’s going too far to the right,” the 25-year-old said.
Music played throughout from a booming speaker at the feet of the ever-burning Torch of Friendship, where many danced, sang, chanted, and even played guitar.
A man poses during the No Kings protest in Miami, Florida on Oct. 18, 2025. Credit: Liv Caputo / Florida Phoenix
‘It feels like you’re not alone’
One attendee in St. Pete was Pinellas Park resident Rachel Parker, a U.S. Army Veteran who says she’s working without pay as a veterans services representative at the VA because of the shutdown. She was dismissive of Republican contentions that protesters are anti-American.
“All of these Republican leaders like [Senate Majority Leader] John Thune coming out and saying ‘This is a protest of hate,’” she said. “It’s not a protest of hate. We are just utilizing our First Amendment rights to talk about the things that we have no control over. If Congress wants to abdicate all of its responsibilities right now, then we’re going to have to do it for them.”
A Pinellas County teacher who wanted to be identified only by her first name, Marissa, wore a cape of the American flag.
“I’m pretty worried that we’re losing our democracy, and I think we’re losing our way as Americans,” she said. “I feel like the actions that the Trump administration is taking doesn’t represent our country or what our founders had as a vision for our country. And so I’m here today because of that. I love my country. I’m wearing a flag today because I want us to take back flags. I know the Republicans have talked about how we hate America. No, I love my country, and I hate what you are doing to it, Donald Trump.”
Kay, a Jacksonville teacher who didn’t want to disclose her last name, was delighted to be among so many fellow Floridians speaking out against the Trump agenda.
“It feels like you’re not alone,” she said. “Because in the neighborhood that I live in, I feel like I’m a minority. And I feel like I can’t be openly against Trump and the administration. But being here makes me feel a lot more comfortable. And I feel like I have a community where there is still hope.”
Attendees gather to listen to music, poems, and other speakers during the No Kings event in Gainesville, Florida on Oct. 18, 2025. Credit: Jay Waagmeester / Florida Phoenix
‘Very excited, peaceful crowd’
In Gainesville, William Marquardt, a retired archaeologist, said he was reusing his sign from the first No Kings day protests. “I hope it will be obsolete one day.” But, he added, “probably not in my lifetime.”
“This turnout is going to be bigger today across the country. Not just Washington or Chicago, but every place, small towns. I think people are finally realizing, if you don’t stand up and say something, you’ve lost your chance,” Marquardt told the Phoenix.
Signs at the event at Gainesville’s Cora Roberson Park pointed out Trump’s association with Jeffrey Epstein, condemned fascism, advocated for protecting democracy, and of course, displeasure with Trump and his administration.
Various organizations used the event to provide outreach, such as the Alachua Democrats, the Sierra Club, Badass Feminists of Gainesville, and Gainesville Women for Democracy.
No Kings in north Florida
In Tallahassee, compared to the last No Kings rally in June, this one was “twice the size, said Ellen Davis, attending with a friend who identified herself as Sharon Z. (Police estimated the earlier turnout at 2,000 people – organizers claimed 5,000.)
They sat in lawn chairs with an American flag, flying upside down to signal distress, upon which was written, “The Power of the People is > Than the People in Power.”
Susan Amore, wearing a vest identifying herself as an ACLU legal monitor, described the vibe as “a very excited, peaceful crowd.”
“Make Orwell and Atwell fiction again,” one sign read. Overheard in passing: “My dog’s an idiot. She’s also smarter than Trump.”
No obvious police presence was apparent.
On the other hand, No Kings Sopchoppy event organizer Robert Seidler had reached out to the sheriff’s office after some inflammatory comments were posted about it on a Facebook page. But there were no altercations throughout the three-hour event, which featured protest songs on the banjo, including “This Land is Your Land.”
Sue Wallrich at the No Kings day rally in Sopchoppy, Florida in Wakulla County on Oct. 18, 2025. Credit: Christine Sexton / Florida Phoenix
Lt. Will Hudson of the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Seidler’s comments. “And we actually took a proactive approach to it, as well. And just anything that’s going to happen in Wakulla, the sheriff’s office is going to make sure that the safety and security of the people at the event, that it’s taken care of.”
Sue Wallrich told the Florida Phoenix, “I know my neighbors. I’ve lived here for a long time. We all agree behind closed doors. But then, the second, you know, you gotta flash something on Facebook and our algorithms blow up. I think it’s really screwing us all over; like, we are more alike than we think.”
Counter-protester “Wolf” wasn’t aware of the flare-up on social media; he said he heard about the gathering at church and decided to attend. He grabbed his Make America Great Again hat before he left the house, he acknowledged, to “attract some attention.”
“To me it’s dumb because we don’t have kings. They are misguided people. They probably mean well. Most of them mean well, but they are misguided. I came here to say a couple of prayers.”
Liv Caputo, Mitch Perry, Jay Waagmeester, Michael Moline, and Christine Sexton contributed to this story.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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This article appears in Oct. 16 – 22, 2025.
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