WASHINGTON: Civil rights activists gathered in Washington on Friday in a major show of opposition to restrictions on voting being pushed by President Donald Trump and Republican redistricting ahead of November’s US midterm elections.
The “Defend the Vote” march brought protesters to the National Mall 63 years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech during the landmark 1963 March on Washington.
Organized by veteran civil rights leader Al Sharpton and led by King’s son Martin Luther King III, the demonstration was expected to draw support from more than 90 civil rights, labor, faith and community organizations.
Prominent speakers include left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“Defending the vote means defending the foundation of our democracy. Sixty three years after my father stood at the Lincoln Memorial, we are called to march again, not only in remembrance, but in action,” King III said ahead of the event.
Organizers say voting rights are under their most serious threat in decades following a Supreme Court ruling in April that weakened protections under the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The decision cleared the way for Republican-led states in the South to redraw congressional districts in ways civil rights groups say dilute the political influence of Black voters.
Among those affected was Democratic congressman Don Davis, who is contesting a new North Carolina seat after Republicans redrew his old district’s lines to exclude his own home.
“The map changed. His reason for running did not,” a Davis campaign spokeswoman told AFP. “We expect voters to send him back in November for the same reason they have before.”
The demonstration also comes amid an escalating legal fight over Trump’s attempt to tighten rules governing mail-in voting.
Civil rights organizations have challenged Trump’s executive order, while courts have issued a rapid series of conflicting decisions over how much of it can take effect before the November elections.
Participating groups including the NAACP filed fresh legal claims this week, arguing that the changes could prevent eligible voters from casting ballots.
Sharpton has portrayed the march as the beginning rather than the culmination of an organizing campaign intended to continue through Election Day.
“The right to vote, the very foundation of our power, is being chipped away in statehouse after statehouse,” he said.
Organizers are also trying to connect voting rights to economic concerns among younger Americans, particularly Black voters whose support for Democrats weakened in the 2024 presidential election.
Polling cited by Axios found that 36 percent of Black voters aged 18 to 29 named jobs and the economy as their top issue, compared with 11 percent who cited racism.
That challenge has shaped the message of Friday’s march, whose organizers have sought to link access to the ballot with wages, health care, housing and the affordability crisis.
“Protecting civil rights requires all of us to stand together,” King III said. “The right to vote is not negotiable.”