‘In 2026, inspiration lives in Minnesota’: Attorney General Ellison’s remarks at No Kings Rally

March 28, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison addressed more than 100,000 people gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol today on the occasion of the third national No Kings rally. National organizers chose Minnesota’s No Kings rally as America’s flagship event today to highlight the courage and resistance Minnesotans showed during Operation Metro Surge, which inspired the entire country.

Below are Attorney General Ellison’s remarks.

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Hey Minnesota, let me hear you!

You know, brothers and sisters, last time I was here with you, right here, was June 14th. And it was hot outside. And earlier that morning, we had lost our beloved sister Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. And I just want to let you know that that loss has remained with me. I'm sure it's remained with you. And at this time, we also have to remember Renee Goode, Alex Pretti.

But I want you to keep in your heart and your prayers Victor Manuel Diaz, who died in custody. I want you to think about Liam Conejo Ramos. I want you to think about a young man named Julio Sosa-Celis, who did not die but was shot. And I want you to think about all of us and the price that we paid in order to kick ICE’s ass out of our state. And the lesson is very simple, friends: freedom isn’t free, and some of us have to pay the dearest cost for the sake of freedom. And we don't want them to pay it. We wish they would never have to pay it, but you can only get rid of tyrants and you can only defeat tyranny if your love of freedom is so great that you will risk what you have to for your neighbors. That is what it is to me, a free society. That's what it means to live free, to be willing to go to the mat, go to the wall for the people you love and care about.

But I want you to know, as your Minnesota Attorney General, that justice is not optional. Accountability is coming. And the names of our neighbors and loved ones will never be forgotten.

You might have noticed that me and Mary Moriarty had to file a lawsuit last week. We're suing the federal government to make sure they give us the rest of the damn file. We're not going to let them hang onto the file, say they're not going to investigate, and that's it. That ain't it by a far sight. And I want you to know that we will never back down, that we will never quit.

You know, friends, I was in Alabama on March 7th with about 100 other Minnesotans, and we went down to Selma, Alabama, because in 1965, that is where inspiration lived. People of all colors and cultures came there, and they've been coming there ever since, because brave Americans stood up for the right for all Americans to vote. And by that August, we passed the Voting Rights Act, and that by that October, we passed the immigration bill that allowed people to come to America who were not from Northern Europe. Did you know that? So we call it Bloody Sunday, and people were injured, and some people like Viola Liuzzo and Reverend James Reeb didn't survive that interchange. They didn't make it. Thugs and killers and racists killed them. But we still fought for everybody to vote, right to vote, and everybody's right to come to America.

And we won those rights.

And now, friends, all of those rights are under attack right now. Every right we fought and won is under attack right now. And in Alabama, those people, when I told them I was from Minnesota, I proudly said, "I'm from Minnesota," they all applauded. Not for me, but for you.

Because in 2026, inspiration lives in Minnesota.

If you want to stand up for justice, if you want to be inspired by the noblest and best ideals of all humanity, you’ve got to come to Minnesota. You might have to stop and spend time at the memorial of Alex Pretti on Eat Street on Nicollet. You might have to go over to Portland to the memorial for our dear beloved sister Renee. But Minnesota, the world looks to you and is inspired by you because of your love and commitment for each other and this country and the principles that hold it up. You are so honored that the JFK Award for Profiles in Courage— well, you won that award, did you know that?

Now, they even nominated you for a Nobel Peace Prize, which is more than I can say for certain people I know.

But the fact is that you are an inspiration. You are where people come to get inspired. And I want to just thank all of our out-of-town guests who came. Bernie, Joan Baez, Jane Fonda, Tom Morello, all these amazing labor leaders who've come here. They come here because they know where inspiration lives in 2026, and it lives right here with you.

Now, beloved, let me tell you, right now, we got a few more months until there's a national election, and Trump is scared to death. I'm not here to tell you who to vote for. Hell, you know who to vote for. Vote for the people who vote for your family. Vote for people who don't kill your neighbors. Vote for people who don't throw your neighbors in detention. Vote for people who don't raise taxes on you and drive up your prices. Vote for people who don't start foreign wars after they promise not to.

You know what to do, but what you got to do is to do it. We've got to have the largest turnout in the history this state has ever known. And we're the number one turnout state in the country already. But we've got to convert this great energy into electoral success. The bottom line is there's a lot of ways to push back on a tyrant. One of them is to sue them. I do it all the time. Did it 57 times. Another way is to do street activism, protest, demonstration. Another one is art, but another one is voting, and please don't discount that one. That one will be important. In part, we got into this mess because of an election, and we're going to help get ourselves out of it through an election.

Now let me wrap up by saying that we've got to be real clear: It wasn't just the election that got us here.

It was a set of decisions made over the course of the last many decades where some leaders, in both parties my friends, did not put the working-class people of America first. And we have got to say that we absolutely demand free and fair elections and will stand for them. We got to demand leaders who will stand up for our democracy. We got to demand to keep dark money out of these elections. We have got to demand that these giant companies that love to merge with each other all so they can screw us out of our money get stopped. We've got to stop this merger mania. We have got to demand a free and a fair economy. We've got to get collective bargaining going again. We've got to raise the minimum wage. We've got to have universal single-payer healthcare for all, because it won't do just to get rid of one bad guy and then 4 years later get another one because we haven't done what we needed to do to solidify shared prosperity in America.

So beloved, let me just say as I wrap up, on behalf of me and my dear sister Peggy Flanagan— love this lady, she is the best, give it up for Peggy— I want us to think about a new birth of freedom for this country. I want us to look past Trump and into the society that we dream about, where we have prosperity, peace for all in this time. God bless everybody.