Estimated 500 people take part in No Kings rally Saturday in Willmar, Minnesota
Jun. 14---- Despite warnings to not hold No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance rallies after the assassination of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, early Saturday morning, the rally in Willmar went forward as planned.
An estimated 500 people showed up at the Willmar Middle School parking lot Saturday to protest the actions of
administration.
Rally attendees shared in singing patriotic songs led by Bob and Jean Whitney and Berge Johnson, as well as listening to speakers — including Indivisible Kandiyohi County organizer and former Minnesota Rep. Mary Sawatzky, Sherman Schueler, Congressional District 7 DFL Chair Jennifer Cronin and retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson.
Sawatzky broke the news to the crowd that Hortman and her husband had been killed. Minnesota State Senator John A. Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, both of whom were also shot at their Champlin home by the same suspect, underwent surgery for their injuries and are recovering.
"We've had some tragedy," Sawatzky said. "This is not how I want to start this out. ... Our speaker of the house, Melissa Hortman, emeritus, she and her husband at 2 a.m. were confronted with a shooter, and they have passed. So if any of you are not comfortable staying here today, right now, you may leave. It's your free will."
She informed the crowd that law enforcement was circling the rally to ensure safety. She also said they had decided not to march down Willmar Avenue to First Street.
"We are here today, uniting," Sawatzky added. "We are going to carry on, because nobody is going to intimidate our unity, who we are, and speaking out for what we believe. ... I just want you to know what has happened at my friend's home."
Cronin, who told the crowd she had not planned on attending the rally until she heard the news about Hortman, asked the crowd to participate in a moment of silence and vowed to remove Minnesota Rep. Michelle Fischbach from office in 2026.
"I wasn't planning on coming to this today, but at 7 a.m. this morning, I received a call that was my worst nightmare and that two of our beloved friends had been murdered," she said. " ... I thought it was important to come here today, because what they want to do is have us be scared and to not stand up for democracy."
" ... Keep coming out, keep fighting back, because what happened today will not stand," she continued. "We are going to find the people who did this, and we're going to prove to them that this country is better than that violence. ... Join us. We are going to remove Michelle Fischbach from office. We are going to win next year."
Sawatzky also spoke about Saturday being Flag Day, a day to celebrate the birth of the nation's flag, "a symbol of shared values, our history and our aspirations."
She stated that the independence of United States citizens is about rejecting the very idea of a monarch. The founding fathers declared that no one is above the law, and those rules apply equally to everyone.
"The law is not a tool for the powerful to wield over the weak. It is the framework that protects our liberties and ensures justice," Sawatzky said, pointing out the 13 stripes and 50 stars on the United States flag showing each state is an equal partner. " ... There's no crown on our flag, no symbol of power, no indication that one person or one group is superior to another. The strength of our nation does not lie within an individual, but in our collective voices."
Anderson spoke briefly about how isolating it can to be a judge when tough decisions have to be made.
"We have some judges that are making tough decisions, but their support does not come from the army, (does) not come from the police, it comes from the people," he said. "So stand up for the justices and back them, because they're defending your democracy."
Schueler shared his journey in politics, noting that he and his wife were "bumpkins" for the Republican Party in the early 1980s, but he could see the Republican Party was "kind of going off the rails" in the 1990s with Republicans refusing to compromise.
"How do you have a democracy with no compromise?" he asked.
He stayed with the Republicans, but the way Republicans treated former President Barrack Obama taught him that the party had become more important than the country.
"For someone who willingly answered the call to my country and flew into combat in Vietnam, that was the last straw, and I haven't looked back," Schueler said.
He spoke about the Trump administration being a fascist regime — and that these plans have been in the works for a long time through the Heritage Foundation and now Project 2025.
"When I looked up fascism, the one thing I noticed is, unlike communism, where they take over the businesses, fascism leaves the economics in the hands of the private sector, (but) they control it," Schueler said. "I haven't seen a better way to control businesses than to unilaterally use your pen and tariffs — you can decide who the winners and losers are by one person."
Schueler also spoke about South Korea, where a "dictator wannabe" was elected and had a fair amount of immunity. The people of South Korea fought back, even after the leader declared martial law last fall. Legislators and people in the streets were able to take power back.
He noted that Democratic attorneys general in the United States are doing their best to protect U.S. democracy in the legal realm and how U.S. citizens need to support them, which is what he felt those attending the rallies Saturday were doing. He also pointed out the ways some law firms, Harvard University and the state of California are also fighting back against the Trump administration.
"Since the election, what's bothered me is, and I'm watching the executive orders, seeing which one of those might harm a free and fair election," Schueler said. "All the economic issues we can overcome. If we can't hang on to our Article One freedoms — the free and fair election — then the economic issues become kind of mute. Remember, Trump loves martial law."
During a recent interview, Heather Cox Richardson, an American historian and history professor at Boston College, was asked by former Democrat Senator Jon Tester what her thoughts were about the feud between Trump and Elon Musk, according to Schueler.
"She said both of those are very unstable people. Underground, she's hearing the handlers are really struggling because they can't keep Trump on task. He's so unhinged," Schueler said. "Musk, The New York Times pointed out, in the last election cycle, he was a known drug abuser. Both of those people are very powerful."
Schueler explained that U.S. citizens gave Trump his power when electing him to office and Musk got his power from a lot of very lucrative contracts from the government — the people.
"If we the people gave them their power, we also can take it away from them," Schueler concluded.
Although organizers made the decision not to march from the Willmar Middle School parking lot to First Street South, attendees chose to march regardless, and filled the sidewalk, lining the street from Willmar Avenue to Olena Avenue.
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