Hundreds rally against Trump policies

March 18, 2025 | Register-Star (Hudson, NY)

by Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon 

HUDSON - Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado joined hundreds of people who protested in the city's 7th Street Park on Sunday to rally against the ongoing policies of President Donald Trump.

The event, held by multiple county and state organizations, including Indivisible Columbia NY, the Columbia County Democratic Committee, Third Act Upstate New York, and Rivers & Mountains GreenFaith, was attended by over 500 people. Protesters were joined by local and state elected officials, and representatives from community organizations.

Speakers expressed concern with the ongoing cuts to federal agencies by the Trump administration, as well as the efforts of the Department of Governmental Efficiency, chaired by Elon Musk, to further cut services to Americans.

"We didn't just find ourselves in this position, woke up one day, and said ?oh my, how did Trump get back in.'" Delgado said during Sunday's rally. "The status quo is broken. We need to elevate the bar of what we expect from our leaders because that's the only way I can comprehend how in the hell someone so morally bankrupt as Trump could ever find his way back into the White House. It shouldn't have been an option."

Delgado, a Democrat, said during the rally, groups of Americans have been "economically exploited" for decades by the federal government, and that it had been going on for too long."

This is a moment of accountability, people, across the political spectrum," he said. "It's damn shameful that we had to get to this point to fully appreciate it and comprehend it, but we're awake now."

Delgado added it will take people getting behind good leaders to make a change in the country.

"We have to fight," he said. "We have to fight every single day. You have to show up every single day and not just vote, but voting is obviously very important, but show up and hold your elected officials accountable. You don't like what they do? Throw them out. You like what they do? Put them in. That is what democracy is. Do not let the anger and the frustration and the dispiritedness get in the way of what you can control."

After Sunday's rally, Delgado said the Democratic Party had to be more than just the party in opposition to Trump.

"You have to have a vision, and that vision needs to be invested in the people," he said. "It can't be invested in corporate power. It can't be invested in special interest. It can't be invested in just the wealthiest among us. It needs to be invested in our working families and in the folks who are struggling to get by. I think the Democratic Party, for a long time, has drifted away from that message, and has not centered our politics and our agenda on economic security. When we do that, I think the more we'll be able to unite and have a broad coalition of folks who want to get behind what we stand for, and not just look for destructive energy."

During his time as lieutenant governor, Delgado said he traveled throughout the state to listen to his constituents and gauge the best ways to elevate the voices of different groups.

"Speak to their economic pain, and understand from the ground level what it means to invest in these communities in a real way," he said. "Invest in education, fight for better health care, fight for higher wages, and give a voice to those people who I think for a very long time haven't felt like they have been given a voice."

Delgado, who announced he would not seek reelection as lieutenant governor with fellow Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul in February, did he not rule out a run for the Democratic nomination for governor against Hochul in the 2026 election.

"As I've said, I'm considering all options that are on the table," he said. "But, right now, particularly in this moment where there's so much energy out there, I think, a thirst for leaders that are only accountable for the people. I want to really center the work that I do as lieutenant governor in a very independent fashion that is tied directly to the people, and owing it to the people."

During the rally, attendees shouted chants, including "What do we want? Democracy. When do we want it? Now."

Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson said during the rally the Trump administration's actions feel similar to when Trump was in office in 2020, when Johnson was first elected to the mayor's position.

"It feels like deja vu, like we're here again, but this time we're more prepared and ready to fight," Johnson said during the rally.

Johnson said he had previously met with a youth organization, and was asked by members of the organization what he would do to protect the individuals in the organization and their families from immigration officials.

"Right then and there, I knew that all politics is local," Johnson said. "And we have to do whatever we can to protect every individual in our city, and that's what we're gonna do."

Speakers also shared how the Trump administration has impacted their work in health care and agriculture, as well as women's rights and LGBTQ+ rights.

"It's no secret that Planned Parenthood and our patients are being attacked at every angle right now," Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood Public Affairs Manager Madeline Reilly said during the rally. "Efforts to slash Medicaid, prohibiting Planned Parenthood from billing for our services, the potential for a national abortion ban attacks on medication abortion, attacks on trans people and they're access to health care, defunding our entire organization, the list goes on."

State Assemblymember Didi Barrett, D-106, said during the rally the American people need to fight back against the Trump administration.

"We must fight for our constituents," she said. "We must fight for the American people. We must fight for democracy. We must fight for our country. Let's not fall into the trap that they have set for us. Let's not fight with each other."

People throughout the Hudson Valley and New York state will work together, State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-41, said during the rally.

"We will stand united together to fight back against the oligarchy, the autocracy, and, quite frankly, the tyranny that is being perpetrated at the federal level against the values that we hold so dear, and the values that built this country," she said.

Attendees of the rally also held signs that read "resist" and "America is a no king's zone". Twelve-year-old Jackson Magyar had a sign that read "Stop! I am 12, Trump and Musk are stealing my future!"

Magyar traveled from Connecticut to attend Sunday's rally, and said it was the first one he had attended.

"Everyone needs to be involved and needs to understand what's happening in our country," Magyar said.

He said he became interested in politics when former Vice President Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for president.

"I started getting more involved during the election season when Kamala Harris was campaigning, because Trump is a dangerous oligarch who should never have come to office," he said. "I think it's just, all the information is there, you just have to find it and know what is truth and what is not."