As the weather warms up, nationwide protests against the Trump Administration are getting larger. More Americans are taking to the streets, town halls, and public forums in every state and major U.S. city to voice their growing disapproval of the administration’s handling of everything from the economy to immigration.
It’s no coincidence that the next big protest is happening this Thursday, May 1, on May Day, or International Workers’ Day. It comes as many American workers face layoffs, skyrocketing living costs, and overall economic uncertainty as a result of widespread tariffs since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Americans from all walks of life and all corners of the country have joined anti-Trump protests this year, including: retirees worried about cuts to Social Security and Medicare; teachers at schools under attack for DEI, where funding has been pulled; struggling middle class families with small children; and government workers who were recently laid off amid job cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
May Day protestors are expected to include men and women, girls and boys, the young, middle aged, and old. That’s because this movement is a populist one, representing the general sentiment of Americans who increasingly disapprove of the way Trump is governing, punctuated by his sinking approval ratings.
What protests are happening on May Day 2025?
Organizers are holding “a national day of action” on Thursday, May 1, with more than 1,100 events slated for nearly 1,000 cities across the country in all 50 states. Major cities include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Francisco, St. Paul, MN, and Washington, D.C. (Here is a list of May Day events and locations.) Organizers expect about 70,000 protesters.
“This May Day we are fighting back” organizers posted on the May Day website. “We are demanding a country that puts our families over their fortunes—public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, prosperity over free market politics.”
Like the recent “Hands Off” protests earlier this month, which drew hundreds of thousands of Americans, the May Day protests are organized by a broad coalition of groups, including unions, non-profits, educators, and progressive political groups. Some of those organizers include: MoveOn, Women’s March, Indivisible, American Federation of Teachers, Greenpeace USA, Massachusetts Teachers Association, 50501, The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, Union of Southern Service Workers, and Florida National Organization for Women, just to name a few.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is among the many people slated to speak, and he is expected join one of the rallies in Philadelphia at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Organizers have emphasized that “nonviolence is a ‘core principle’ behind the action,” aimed at “fighting back” against President Donald Trump “and his billionaire profiteers [who] are trying to create a race to the bottom—on wages, on benefits, on dignity itself.”
“We’re coming together to send a loud and clear message to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the rest of the billionaire oligarchs trying to destroy our democracy,” Saqib Bhatti, executive director of Bargaining for the Common Good, one of the May Day protests’ sponsors, said in a statement. “There will be no business as usual.”