A crowd marches around Virginia’s state capitol in Richmond on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, before a rally near the bell tower. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)
Clad in a red cloak and a white bonnet, Christie Epperson stood among hundreds of demonstrators gathered for a march between Richmond’s Monroe Park and Virginia’s Capitol, a chilling symbol for the dystopian feature she fears is inching closer.
“(America) can be Gilead,” Epperson said, referencing “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Margaret Atwood’s novel about a totalitarian state where women lose all autonomy. “A few more steps and we’re there.”
Epperson, a Bedford County resident, joined a coalition of more than 300 people in Virginia’s capital Tuesday to push back against policies that she and others see as an erosion of women’s rights as well as a general pushback to President Donald Trump and Republican majorities in Congress. The protest was part of a national effort under the banner “March 4th Democracy” with rallies in all 50 states.
A focus of Tuesday’s event was women’s rights in the context of the present as the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority, cemented by Trump’s judicial appointments, led to the overturning of abortion rights. Across the country, Republican-leaning efforts to restrict access to reproductive healthcare — ranging from contraception to vitro fertilization — have only heightened activists’ fears.
As protesters prepared to march to the state capitol, organizer Violeta Vega took the microphone, reminding the crowd that progress has never come without a fight.
“The rights women have won in this country, those in power didn’t give those things to us willingly,” Vega said. “It was through a struggle of working class people, of organized working-class people — emphasis on the ‘organized.’”
Vega’s speech underscored the long history of resistance, from the women’s suffrage movement more than a century ago to the continued fight for equality today. While white women secured the right to vote in 1920, women of color had to fight for decades more to achieve the same.
Another major concern raised at the rally was the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a Republican-backed measure in Congress that would require people registering to vote or updating their voter registration to present documents like passports or birth certificates to prove citizenship. Supporters say the legislation would prevent immigrants without legal status from voting — despite the fact that it is already illegal and rare.
The proposal has sparked backlash from voting rights groups, including the League of Women Voters, which warns that it could disproportionately affect married women whose last names sometimes may not match across all legal documents.
“That’s really scary,” said Kienan Chung, one of the event organizers. “So today we’re sort of highlighting women’s rights, but what we’re going to be doing going forward is highlighting a different issue at each different protest.”
Tuesday’s gathering was part of state-level organizing with the 50501 movement — shorthand for “50 protests, 50 states, one day.”
Chung described it as a growing wave of political activism that has gained traction since Trump took office. She anticipates the next demonstration will focus on transgender healthcare.
For Richmond resident Nancy Curry, broader healthcare and retirement benefits were top of mind.
Having worked decades, she has paid into Social Security and Medicare — federal programs designed to support retirees with stipends and healthcare. At the same time, she has friends who benefit from Medicaid, which provides coverage for low-income individuals and those without employer-provided insurance.
“It’s really scary to me the number of people in our country who don’t understand that everyone who has worked pays into the system,” Curry said.
Though Trump has repeatedly stated he wouldn’t touch Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, skeptics like Curry aren’t convinced. The president’s push for tax cuts has raised concerns that reductions in federal revenue could lead to spending cuts — including to healthcare programs.
In January, Trump announced a federal funding freeze, and while a memo asserted that Medicare and Social Security would be unaffected, Medicaid was notably absent. Around the same time, several states — including Virginia — experienced temporary suspensions of Medicaid portals, affecting access for more than 630,000 Virginians.
More recently, House Republicans passed a budget resolution that proposes at least $880 billion in spending cuts over the next decade, a move that could put Medicaid on the chopping block. The measure still faces hurdles in the U.S. Senate before reaching Trump’s desk, but for those relying on these programs, the uncertainty remains unsettling.
“How are (people) going to make payments? Making choices between medicines and food – it’s atrocious,” said Curry, voicing frustration over the financial strain healthcare costs place on everyday Americans.
Tuesday’s rally in Richmond came just ahead of Trump’s first joint congressional address in his second term. With midterm elections next year offering the first nationwide test of Trump’s leadership, Virginia voters will have their own high-stakes decision to make this year — electing a new governor and determining the fate of all 100 seats in the House of Delegates.
While some rally goers, like organizer Vega, expressed frustration with the two-party system, Epperson saw a reason for optimism.
“No matter who’s the Democrat running,” she said, things can be better for Virginians.
A goat farm owner, Epperson brought along Mimi, one of her goats, who alternated between munching on grass and soaking up attention from passersby. As she looks ahead, Epperson hopes people stay engaged both online and in real-life activism. And Mimi, she added, will be back for future rallies.
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