Photo by Mia Thurow

Hands Off! protesters, led by Mike Van Someren, gathered in the Village Green where they acquired a permit to assemble.

OCONOMOWOC, Wis. – Oconomowoc is a city located roughly 35 miles west of Milwaukee in Waukesha County – a county that has voted Republican in every presidential election for the past quarter century.

In the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, an average of 66.35% and 66.1% of Oconomowoc voters respectively picked Trump on their ballots.

But recently, a number of Waukesha County residents have been gathering in this city of 18,400 people to voice their displeasure with the current Republicans leading the United States government.

Hands Off! in Oconomowoc

Hundreds of protesters took to the sidewalks of downtown Oconomowoc the morning of April 19, wearing political attire, carrying colorful homemade signs and hoisting large flags for passersby to see.

The city’s Hands Off! protest against President Donald Trump and Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk was held just two weeks after a prior protest with 200 to 300 people in attendance. It was organized by Mike Van Someren, a Marquette University Law School graduate who previously ran for election to represent Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District as a Democrat.

Oconomowoc protesters gathered in the Village Green at the corner of Main Street and Wisconsin Avenue around 11 a.m., where they acquired a permit to assemble. Some of the homemade signs featured messages like “Hands Off My Social Security,” “Project 2025 Is Un-American,” “We Have No King” and “Stand With Immigrants.”

“It’s good to know that there is support and there are other people that care,” Shannon Majewski, a Waukesha, Wisconsin, resident who attended the April 19 protest, said. 

Van Someren addressed the group before leading them to march through downtown Oconomowoc. He emphasized how protesters must keep moving on the sidewalks so as not to disrupt local business.

Angela Milliken, a second-time protester from Delafield, Wisconsin, said both of her experiences have been peaceful and informative displays of opinion.

“It was hopeful and supportive to gather with people who have the same feelings you do about what’s happening with our democracy and with the Constitution,” Milliken said. “We’re concerned, and we’re showing our concern.”

The protest’s theme was “Main Street versus Wall Street,” which emphasized the need to protect small towns from the Trump administration’s tariffs, inflation and the stock market. Milliken felt the theme resonated strongly with a town like Oconomowoc, where she said she sees individuals being affected by these issues at the ground level.

Van Someren’s motivation for organizing the Hands Off! protest was growing frustration with these political issues being turned into a war of “right versus left,” when he believes it is more of a class issue.

“We have people that have sold us out to Wall Street to the detriment of Main Street,” Van Someren said. “What we need is Main Street standing up and people fighting for it.”

What’s next for Wisconsin

Van Someren is hoping that Hands Off! protests like his and others across the country encourage people to have more political conversations with their neighbors.

“What policies are you getting on the people you keep putting into power? If they’re not doing anything for you, why do you keep putting them into power? That’s what we’re trying to do,” Van Someren said.

Majewksi mentioned how these protests can be representative of larger national issues.

“We have to look above party,” Majewski said.

This story was written by Mia Thurow. She can be reached at mia.thurow@marquette.edu.

The Marquette Wire reached out to the Oconomowoc Police Department and Chamber of Commerce as well as the HandsOff! organization for a statement but did not hear back.