HIGHLAND — Nearly 1,000 people held hands across the nation’s longest pedestrian bridge on Sunday in solidarity against what they call the Trump Administration’s anti-democratic policies.
The peaceful, political rally at the Walkway over the Hudson State History Site was organized by a coalition of nine Indivisible Groups from across the Hudson Valley, looking to generate enthusiasm with the 2026 midterm elections just two months away.
Indivisible 845 Organizer Dana Devine O’ Malley said it’s important to show the world that we can all meet hand-in-hand despite the current administration’s divisive rhetoric.
“They want to divide us and paint our neighbors as our enemies,” said O’Malley. “Our plan is to protect the elections that are upcoming and to protect our neighbors, to stop this Newburgh ICE facility, and, once again, to protect our voting because there will most likely be games to be played.”
Inspired by the Hands Across America event of 1986, Sunday’s protest drew people from as far away as New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
“Every day we wake up to news about another horrible thing happening to American citizens,” said Lauren Vitkovsky, chairwoman of the Warwick, New York, Democratic Committee.
“People we love are being detained by ICE. They’re limiting mail-in ballot access, which is now going to affect disabled voters and the elderly and can’t get to the polls themselves. We’re watching the literal dismantling of our democracy, and there’s very little we can do about it except to show our friends and neighbors that we care about them and want to stand up for them.”
“We’re here because what connects us matters much more than what divides us,” said Dutchess County Legislator Lisa Kaul, who represents District 6 in the Town of Poughkeepsie and is running to unseat State Senator Rob Rolison (R, Poughkeepsie) in November. “We stand for one promise–every voice heard, every vote counted, and we want clean air and clean water to make sure that future generations will be able to walk across this bridge as we are today.”
As dark clouds rolled in, protestors from both the Dutchess and Ulster County sides of the Walkway each made their way to the center of the bridge and, at exactly 2 p.m., lined up and joined hands in unison for about five minutes.
“We’re here to support the First Amendment, which is under fire,” said Nicholas Kalogris of Poughkeepsie. “We’re supporting an America that works for everyone, not just for the few.”
“We stood up against the ICE facility in Chester and continue to stand up against any ICE detention center in Newburgh — and we will fight every day to make sure there will not be one here in Dutchess County,” said Yvette Valdes Smith, chair of the Dutchess County Legislature. “We stand with all our immigrant neighbors today and tomorrow because this is who we are. It makes us not only who we are here in the Hudson Valley. It makes us Americans.”
Indivisible is a national movement with local chapters in the Hudson Valley. It is dedicated to supporting voting rights, free speech, free press, diversity and inclusion as well as affordable housing, healthcare, climate action and immigrant rights.
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