On Monday, Gov. Mike Braun announced a special session to consider early redistricting. The last special session in 2022 outlawed most abortions in the state, drawing thousands of protestors to the state capitol. Now the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus and others are calling for citizens to converge on the capitol.

Harvard researchers say protests against the Trump administration are greaterin volume and range than those held in 2017 during his first term. The No Kings movement held its second protest on Oct. 18, drawing nearly 7 million people across the nation, including in more than 40 Indiana communities.

Early redistricting—in hopes of sending even more Indiana Republicans to Congress—and other Trump administration goals were on the minds of the protesters at the Indiana Statehouse. Statehouse File Olivia O’Neal asked several Hoosiers about why they gathered.

Through the lens of a mother and woman

As Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) Board commissioner, Alissa Impink has seen the effects of the Trump administration on education—and she’s also seen it through the lens of a mother and a woman. She discussed this viewpoint at the No Kings 2.0 protest, taking a break on the ground with a coffee in hand.

Impink’s two children are just beginning their education journey in IPS, one in kindergarten and the other in first grade.

“I want them to be able to graduate,” she said.

The largest obstacle may be funding. Impink saw this firsthand when the Trump administration temporarily froze more than $6 billion in federal education grants over the summer. At IPS, Impink said the effect was uncertainty as the school wondered if it would have enough staff and education services, especially those related to special education.

“It was threatening,” Impink said. “I don’t think that is fair when public education is a public good.”

As a member of the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, a nonpartisan foundation advocating for women’s rights, Impink’s concerns extend to school-aged girls. Mental health has been a challenge in teen girls, and Impink said she has heard stories from school social workers and nurses who see it firsthand at IPS. This especially manifests in decreasing attendance. The fear of losing funding, especially considering the $1 billion stopped for school mental health, were some of Impink’s reasons for attending the No Kings 2.0 protest.

Homemade pastries and hard conversations

In the middle of the crowd at the No Kings 2.0 protest was a foldable table laid out with homemade goods: puppy chow, popcorn, pumpkin muffins and hamantaschen—a triangular pastry filled with jam. Standing over the table, Kristen Kruger from McCordsville said she loved the strawberry jam hamantaschen. The other kinds were peach and blueberry, all with homemade jams.

Kruger gave protestors the opportunity to grab something sweet and maybe chat for a minute or two about concerns like their anxiety that immigration arrestshave caused and the rights of transgender people—a subject she is particularly close to.

Having previously worked at Riley Hospital for Children, Kruger said she used to work with many children who were not able to receive gender-affirming care. As a result, they left the state in search of a place they could express their gender identity freely. If the Trump administration continues to target transgender people, these places could vanish, Kruger worries.

“That’s I think the most disruptive thing is having to flee for your kids to feel safe in school and everything,” she said.

‘I thought my protest days were over’

Joseph Kellar, an Indianapolis resident, remembers protesting for the right to marry in the ’80s and ’90s at the Indiana Statehouse.

“I thought my protest days were over,” he said.

His husband, now deceased, used to accompany him. At the No Kings 2.0 protest, he brought a cooler filled with water bottles to offer to fellow protestors.

“Well, not yet, but I’m afraid of it,” he said in response to whether the Trump administration has done anything to affect him.

He has concerns that Project 2025 will target the LGBTQ+ community and that the Supreme Court may revisit the decision on gay marriage. On top of this, Kellar was protesting violence.

“I don’t like the idea of the sheer brutality that I see on the news,” Kellar said.

‘There are people that are actively being hurt’

Jack Howell from Indianapolis has a lot of issues with the Trump administration, from the push to redistrict early to the Supreme Court visiting conversion therapy.

“The big thing that I really hate is not necessarily policy, it’s the way they speak about half of the American public,” Howell said. “Just because you don’t agree with them, now you’re suddenly an enemy, and this is the antithesis to all things that are American.”

He said that the administration is working to divide the American people despite creating issues that affect everyone.

“I don’t think America is nearly as divided as they’re trying to make it sound like. Even here in ruby-red Indiana, I don’t think it’s nearly as sharply divided as what they’re showing and portraying in the media and what this administration is trying to say,” he said.

Having friends who are members of the LGBTQ+ community, Howell has major concerns for people—especially children—who could be affected by loosening regulations on conversion therapy.

“There are people that are actively being hurt,” he said. “I feel so strongly for those people right now … I feel so horrible for even for the MAGA people who are being misled. … They’re hurting just like you are.”

From students to advocates

It was Quinn McComas’ and Al Aylesworth’s first protest.

As students at Butler University, they said they are most concerned about declining free speechon college campuses and the removal of DEI programs.

Their concerns stem to other education platforms.

McComas’ mom runs an applied behavioral analysis (ABA) clinic for individuals with autism and other behavioral disorders. Medicare changes are making it harder to afford and find speech therapy and behavioral therapy for the families who need it.

“Stuff that would really make these kids’ lives easier,” McComas said.