On May 1, 2026, educators and students across the country stayed home from, or walked out of, school for the day, businesses and organizations closed their operations for the day, employees stayed home from, or walked out of, work for the day if employers did not close operations for the day, and consumers did not buy anything that day. In addition, marches and rallies as part of over 5,000 actions involving millions of people in small towns and big cities around the United States demanded more workplace fairness and the restoration of the rule of law in the face of escalating violations of civil rights and civil liberties by the current Federal regime.

The actions on May Day in 2026 followed a series of broad-based marches and rallies in which increasing numbers of people have participated to oppose the Federal administration’s policies and practices. As summarized in a recent post, the first set of broad-based marches and rallies against the Federal regime’s agenda and conduct involved approximately 3 million people nationwide on April 5, 2025. The second set of broad-based marches and rallies involved approximately 5 million people nationwide on June 14, 2025. The third set of broad-based marches and rallies involved approximately 7 million people nationwide on October 17, 2025. The fourth and most recent set of broad-based marches and rallies before May Day involved approximately 9 million people nationwide on March 28, 2026.