At No Kings rallies around Columbus and the rest of the country, the locally organized but nationally branded protests were all themed around encouraging voter turnout.
At a midday rally at Schiller Park, in the heart of German Village, event organizers and Democratic candidates not only pushed attendees to go vote early – over half of the people there already had – but also volunteer their time to knock on doors and encourage others to vote.
Other rallies in the area included an afternoon event outside the Ohio Statehouse.
Matt Caffrey told the German Village crowd that he has been canvassing around the South Side, where voter turnout has been as low as 19% in midterm elections. Caffrey said he has been having “deeply meaningful” conversations
with voters about the state of the country and registering people to vote.
“It makes people feel heard and seen for the first time in a long time – people are opening their doors; they’re having long conversations with us,” Caffrey said.
Don Leonard, the Democrat challenging U.S. Rep. Mike Carey in Ohio’s 15th Congressional District (which includes much of German Village), told the crowd that the American people are under attack.
“We know that the aggressors are not our trans brothers and sisters looking for safety and freedom, we know the aggressors are not immigrants looking for a better life for their families just like most of our ancestors did so many years ago,” Leonard said, adding that the aggressors are large corporations, federalist society judges and politicians in Congress who answer to billionaires.
“But folks, we are fighting back – we are going to take back our government from the billionaires and the corporations, from the Israeli lobby that drags us into these foolish wars and drops our bombs on innocent children in Gaza,” Leonard said.
Stacie Baker, the Democrat who is challenging state Sen. Michelle Reynolds in Ohio’s 3rd Senate District, said it takes everyone to make change.
“With all y’all’s help, I know we can do this,” Baker said.
Anna Lynn Winfrey is a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: No Kings rallies in Columbus push early voting, door-to-door outreach
