More than 3,000 Mainers gathered in Augusta on Saturday to protest federal budget and staffing cuts, the state’s clash with the Trump administration over transgender student-athlete policies, and other actions by the Trump administration.
The demonstrators flocked to the State House, holding signs protesting Trump and Elon Musk. After the rally, protesters marched through Augusta and caused the city to shut down Western Avenue.
The protest was one of many anti-Trump demonstrations across Maine and the rest of the country on Saturday, in which organizers used the slogan “Hands Off!” to call for Trump and Musk — the unelected billionaire leading many of the administration’s cuts — to change course.
At least 20 other protests were also scheduled around the state, from towns as small as Lubec and Bridgton, to bigger communities including Presque Isle, Houlton, Bangor and Portland.
Mainers in Augusta were protesting Trump’s cuts to federal funding and healthcare, increased detainment and deportation of immigrants and more, according to several speakers and attendees.
One protester, Erin Lowell, 59, from Bowdoin, said she hopes the protest will make Maine’s elected representatives start listening to calls to stand up against the Trump administration’s policies.
“I want to see them start standing up to some of the illegal, unconstitutional actions that the president is taking. They can push back. They are giving up their responsibility as public servants. They need to stand up and exert the authority that the Constitution gives them,” Lowell said.
The protesters objected to a long list of Trump’s actions during his less than three months in office, including his targeted campaign against Maine for its policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in sports that align with their gender, which has included investigations and funding disruptions.
The rallygoers also expressed concern about abortion rights and union rights.
“It’s scary to think about the little kids, little girls who will grow up scared of the control that other people will have over their bodies,” said Willow Newman, 13, from Palermo.
“[Trump] is just not what this country needs right now,” said Rob Todte, 61, from Boothbay. “Everything he’s doing is just taking us back and back.”
Eleven people spoke at the rally, including politicians and representatives from various organizations across Maine. Sophie Garner, a representative from Maine Democratic Socialists of America, said in her speech that protesters should continue to organize.
“End this nightmare and rebuild. We need our own infrastructure. Too often we think that activism belongs to those with the loudest voices and the biggest platforms, but history tells us otherwise. Movements are built by ordinary people like you and me,” Garner said.
