Eau Claire Residents Join in Nationwide “Hands Off” Protests

Eau Claire area residents showed up at Phoenix Park in significant numbers on Saturday afternoon for the local “Hands Off” protest.

Thousands of people across Wisconsin and millions across the country participated in the protests on Saturday. The protests were aimed at efforts by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to slash spending on federal programs that people rely on, like Medicaid and Social Security. Organizers say there were over 1,300 protests across the country.

The protest at Phoenix Park on Saturday featured a number of local representatives rallying community members to keep making their voices heard following Judge Susan Crawford’s victory in the closely watched Wisconsin Supreme Court election last week.

State Representative Jodi Emerson hit on various topics during her speech, including the loss of research funding in the state. “We’re losing not only new technlogies with these cuts to grants, but we’re losing science,” she said. “We’re losing the point where we are going to get better with our health, we’re losing workforce and training. And so I say it loudly to those trying to take away our future, what did you just chant?”

The Eau Claire crowd responded with chants of “Hands off.”

State Senator Jeff Smith took aim at campaign finance reform in his speech. The comments come after the Wisconsin Supreme Court election became the most expensive state supreme court race in American history.

“As a politician, frankly, we have to raise money to be competitive,” said Smith. “We have to compete. We have to play by the rules. And the only way we’re going to change the rules, the only way you’re going to change the rules, is to put people in position to change the rules.”

State Representative Christian Phelps, just a few months into his first term, spoke on his experience in education. He also took aim at President Trump’s recent executive order seeking to dismantle the Department of Education.

“When I worked in Wisconsin’s public schools, I supported students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms,” said Phelps. “Public schools are the most powerful space that brings children together across disabilities, across race and ethnicity and gender and socioeconomic status and political background, every single day in a meaningful way. United across all those difference around one shared community value, that every child deserves to learn, grow and be safe.”

The “Hands Off” protests were one of the largest organized displays of opposition to the Trump administration since his second term began in January. In addition to the protests, Democratic lawmakers have also held frequent town hall events in competitive Republican-held congressional districts to give constituents an opportunity to air their growing greivances.