The queen of No Kings: Behind the scenes of what’s believed to be Reno’s largest-ever protest 

Kimberly Carden is the leader of Indivisible Northern Nevada, the all-volunteer, grassroots group that organized the No Kings protest in Reno on Oct. 18—one of more than 2,600 on that day, in all 50 states. 

Carden is a retired Army colonel who was on active duty for 26 years.  

“Based on the Hatch Act (which limits federal employees’ political activities), nobody knew what my political leanings were for my entire career,” she said.  

But when she was stationed in places like Panama, Korea, Germany and Italy, she was always civically involved. “I made sure that we had a voting table to make sure all the soldiers and civilians had an opportunity to register to vote, because they were not living in their home state,” she said. 

After she retired, she joined the Nevada Gun Safety Coalition, a group that promotes effective gun safety legislation. It was through that group’s former chair, Chip Evans, that Carden connected with Indivisible Northern Nevada. At first, she said, she was one of the “worker bees.” In time, she took on more leadership duties.  

“For the last couple years, I kind of took the manager role in corralling the cats,” she said. 

Beginner-friendly protests 

Since November 2024, the month in which Donald Trump was elected for a second time, Carden has led about 50 protests on behalf of INN. Most of them have been “Tyranny Tuesdays” gatherings—weekly, hour-long protests in front of the Bruce R. Thompson Courthouse and Federal Building that draw between 40 and 120 people.  

The group hosts the weekly protest for three reasons, Carden said. “One, we wanted folks who were maybe a little bit shy about attending a large protest; they could end up coming into a much smaller event, and then also start making friends and seeing that we’re not scary people.” 

Two: to highlight a specific issue each week. “The crap hits the crap fan about all kinds of different things,” she said. “Lately, it’s obviously been about the budget bill, and also putting some pressure on Sen. (Catherine) Cortez Masto to buck up and vote against the bill the next time that bill comes up.” (The federal government shutdown was ongoing as of our press deadline.) 

Three: “To let the senators know that we’re paying attention,” said Carden. “When they do something that matches our values, we give them a petition that says, ‘Hey, you know, we appreciate you; thanks for everything you do.’ But if they do something that goes against our values, then the petition says, ‘Hey, we need you to step up and vote yay or nay on a particular bill.’” 

So, what are the values she’s talking about? INN’s website says it is “dedicated to making sure our public servants work for the people.” One INN member (whose name we are not using because their job prohibits them from speaking publicly about political matters) added: “We’re not an anti-anything group, but we are very much pro-democracy. That means that when any of our elected officials votes out of alignment with what is democracy, they will hear from us. It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle they are going to be on. We are welcoming to everyone—independents, Republicans, Libertarians, whoever wants to be a part of this and save democracy.” 

Event planning 

Word that another day of No Kings protests would be organized around the nation began to spread in mid-September. Two days after INN volunteers heard the news, Carden said, they began planning to hold one in Reno. 

The first order of business was to invite partner groups to participate. These included the Northern Nevada Central Labor Council, the national grassroots protest group #50501, the new Biggest Little Action Group, Third Act and Indivisible Carson City.  

Of course, INN had to get the word out to potential attendees. They used the usual channels—their newsletter and social media pages. 

On Oct. 10, about a week before the event, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson called the planned Washington, D.C., No Kings rally the “hate America rally.” The Reno organizers were not concerned; in fact, they had learned by then that such pronouncements are among their best recruitment tools—and immediately after Johnson made his claim, signups for the Oct. 18 protest in Reno surged. 

Next, the INN members considered a location. 

“Safety is our No. 1 concern,” said Carden. Reno’s June No Kings rally took place outside of Rep. Mark Amodei’s office on Kietzke Lane. For that event, the organizers got around 1,700 signups, and an estimated 9,000 people showed up. Protesters lined the sidewalks, and the street remained open. She said that having drivers honk as they passed by was a welcome part of that event, but this time around, she wanted protestors to be less exposed to vehicle traffic, for safety’s sake.  

INN applied for a free-speech permit from the city of Reno, which allows the use of a public plaza and the closure of streets at no cost to an organization. 

The fatal shooting that had occurred at the No Kings rally in Salt Lake City in June was also on her mind, and it had her thinking about safety even more than she usually does. To prepare for large events, INN leaders keep in touch with the Reno Police Department, keeping law officers apprised of the anticipated crowd count. For the October event, they predicted maybe 10,000 to 12,000 attendees, and they had a stretch goal of 15,000. 

“If anything pops up into our radar that is considered a threat or a safety issue, we immediately let (RPD) know, and vice versa,” Carden said. “And then, on the day of the event … we request to meet with whoever’s going to be the onsite lieutenant. … We have a very good relationship.” 

INN members undergo training from the ACLU of Nevada on deescalation and running safe events. They’ve also received training to keep protestors safe and “what to do as far as (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is concerned” from Movement Catalyst, a support organization for social movements. 

A record turnout 

On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 18, Carden oversaw the arrival of volunteers, about 100 between INN and the partner groups. The Northern Nevada Labor Council ran a food drive. For a while, Carden was on bullhorn duty, leading chants. Then, she briefly addressed the crowd from a stage. An orchestra played “America the Beautiful”; a mariachi band played; and there was a sage blessing. 

Carden said there were a couple of small medical incidents. Someone’s walker broke. REMSA was on the scene to help. 

“There were no security concerns,” she said. “Law enforcement was very supportive, and we appreciated that.” 

An estimated 18,000 people attended. Here’s how the organizers came up with this number: First, they estimated, based on the crowd count from the Women’s Protest in 2017, that Believe Plaza can hold around 10,000. (This event extended from the plaza, a few blocks south down Virginia Street, to the federal building.) Then they ran their own photos and drone videos from the Oct. 18 protest through Chat GPT a few times and concluded that Chat GPT’s best estimate was 20,000. Then they factored in the RPD count, 15,000, which they say is typically low.  

“When we figured out that it looked like it was 18,000, it just blew our mind,” Carden said. “It was the largest protest in Nevada. 

“I am so proud of my team with Indivisible, and so proud of the partners and all of the work that we put toward this—they showed up, and they showed up big. You have no idea how hard we worked. And the grandmas and grandpas who were out there, the 5-year-olds who were out there, the high school teachers, those who are in our marginalized communities—it wasn’t just a bunch of old, white retirees. It gave us hope that we can make a difference, that we will be able to stand up to the regime.” 

To learn more about Indivisible Northern Nevada, visit indivisiblennv.org.