CHENANGO, N.Y. — Chenango is not one of New York state's biggest cities and, located in the rural Southern Tier region, is not typically known for its Democratic politics.

However, on Saturday, Joe Lott, a member of Chenango Change, a branch of the national organization Indivisible, said roughly 250-300 people gathered to protest President Donald Trump and his administration's agenda.

"It's good in these areas seeing that because in these kind of smaller more rural or at least just smaller communities in the country are kind of counted out, as they're always going to be solidly red," Lott said.

Indivisible coordinated the National Day of Protest and, according to the organization, there were at least 56 registered "Hands Off" rallies across the state, the vast majority upstate. Larger cities, like Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, reported roughly 2,000 attendees, but the state campaign said even in less populated areas there were hundreds. 

"All it's doing is just trying to enable people from anywhere to be able to do grassroots organizing to basically show that they're not willing to just kind of stand idly by while the Trump agenda gets executed," Lott said.

University at Buffalo political science associate professor Jacob Neiheisel said the Hands Off protests were not as big as some others in the country's past, but were well-attended and covered enough to get people to take notice. Indivisible said the goal was to channel energy into peaceful action and establish a baseline for organization should there be "total agreement" the country is in a constitutional crisis.

"I think that it could be the seeds of mobilizing to turn out in the mid-terms, to donate, any of those kinds of things," he said.

Neiheisel said these types of protests rarely change minds, but in instances like the Tea Party movement, have proven to be effective at mobilizing voters. He said the demonstrations also represent an outlet for people who oppose an administration. 

“There's a catharsis that goes along to acts of participation like this and there's something to be said to doing these things in public. It's not just for individuals. It's to be seen and to show others that you're on a particular side of an issue," Neiheisel said.

The organization said it is debriefing and preparing for more action in congressional districts during the April recess. In Chenango, Lott said they immediately met after the demonstration to discuss how to maintain and build on momentum.

"There's always going to be fuel for that fire that gets people up off the couch. I mean, we had more people join us at our meeting after the Saturday meeting than we did coming up to the plan there, to the planning of it," he said.

In a statement, Erie County Republican Chair Michael Kracker said the protests are part of a "coordinated effort by Democrats who still can’t accept that Donald Trump was elected, again, by the American people." 

"President Trump was elected to reverse that damage and put America first. If some folks want to protest an administration that stands for secure borders, American prosperity, and respect for law and order—God bless. But that won’t stop President Trump or the Republican Party from fighting every day for the American people," Kracker said.