#PowerToThePolls: After One Year of Trump, Weekend Women's March Events to Mobilize Voters

Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children marched in Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2017, many donning pink "pussy hats." (Photo: kai.bates/Flickr/cc)

#PowerToThePolls: After One Year of Trump, Weekend Women's March Events to Mobilize Voters

Rallies and events are planned for January 20th and 21st as the U.S. marks one year since Donald Trump's inauguration—and the worldwide protests that followed

Women and men in all 50 states are expected to march this weekend to mark the first anniversary of the Women's March, the global event that saw millions of people take to the streets in the U.S. and around the world.

The main event will take place on Sunday in Las Vegas instead of Washington, D.C. this year, with organizers focusing largely on registering and mobilizing voters ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Cecile Richards, head of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund; Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia); Alicia Garzia, co-founder or Black Lives Matter; and Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution are among the speakers at Sunday's Power to the Polls rally in Las Vegas.

According to a map of scheduled events on the coalition's website and a video posted to its Twitter page, scores of rallies, meetups, and seminars will take place across the country--and on nearly every continent.

"We started 2017 with perpetual outrage and now we are at the moment when we have perpetual outrage, plus a plan in place for 2018," Linda Sarsour, co-chair of the Women's March, told the Guardian. "One year ago, we had millions of people marching in the streets of the streets. The idea is that we march the same people and their families and their friends to the polls in 2018."

The 2017 event far surpassed expectations, organized in just two months after Teresa Shook of Hawaii started a Facebook event page and invited her friends to march on Washington in protest of President Donald Trump's election.

Officials estimated that about 470,000 people attended the march in Washington, D.C. while 750,000 marched in Los Angeles. Dozens of marches took place around the world, including two in Antarctica.

On social media, women's rights groups urged supporters to attend events, donate to local campaigns, and participate in voter registration efforts in 2018.

Join Us: News for people demanding a better world


Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place.

We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference.

Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Join with us today!

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.