“None of our volunteers or organizers are paid but rather contribute their time, energy and resources out of a vested interest” – protest organizer
Recent reporting from the Reno Gazette Journal confirmed that Joe Lombardo absurdly claiming that the thousands of Nevadans who gathered in Las Vegas and Carson City to protest against Donald Trump’s agenda, from raising prices to cutting Medicaid and education funding, were “paid by the Democratic Party” was in fact a lie. Organizers of the Hands Off! protests told the RGJ, “None of our volunteers or organizers are paid,” and said that “the only disinformation we have encountered so far has been the patently baseless lies from Gov. Joe Lombardo.”
Earlier this month, Lombardo was caught on tape mocking and belittling working-class Nevadans behind closed doors, saying that the “stupid [Hands Off!] protests” were “paid by the Democratic Party” and “the central message […]was ‘What do you mean? You want me to go back to work? […] What can the government do to give handouts to us?’”
Reno Gazette Journal: Who are the 50501 and Indivisible groups behind anti-Trump protests in Northern Nevada?
4/25/25
Key points:
- Rallies against Trump administration policies and Elon Musk’s government-efficiency actions are popping up all over Northern Nevada like political wildflowers.
- Some have numbered from around 10 attendees to a few hundred, such as those outside Rep. Mark Amodei’s Reno office and the local Tesla dealership.
- Protests in Carson City along the street fronting the Nevada Legislature started with hundreds on Feb. 5 and grew to 7,000 in early April, according to organizers.
- This prompted Gov. Joe Lombardo to mock the protesters as not really being angry about the political upheaval in Washington. He told attendees at a private Republican dinner that they were lazy freeloaders paid to attend.
- Lombardo inspired the theme of an April 19 protest: Not paid, just pissed.
- Are the protesters paid? And just who is behind the anti-Trump rallies?
- The RGJ reached out to the two main groups organizing and promoting the events in Reno and Carson City to learn more: 50501 Northern Nevada and Indivisible Northern Nevada.
- Lois Stokes, of 50501 Northern Nevada’s organizing team, said the local group is all-volunteer, nonpartisan and grassroots.
- “None of our volunteers or organizers are paid but rather contribute their time, energy and resources out of a vested interest in protecting the institutions of our democracy, preserving our constitution, and safeguarding the values and principles upon which our country was founded,” she said.
- Asked about misinformation regarding 50501 Northern Nevada and its events, Stokes said, “Really, the only disinformation we have encountered so far has been the patently baseless lies from Gov. Joe Lombardo.”
- The main repercussion from his comments was a big increase in people wanting to volunteer, she said.
- “I suppose we should be thanking Lombardo for that — if it weren’t for his untenable conduct, it would have taken us a lot longer to grow this quickly,” Stokes said.
- At its April 19 protest, 1,300 pounds of donated food were collected and distributed to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada and Family Soup Mutual Aid, she said.
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