Images by Ty O’Neil and Isaac Hoops
More than a dozen journalists from across the state had gathered on Carson Street in front of the Nevada Capitol in Carson City by 11 a.m. on Sunday morning. They joked with a few late arriving reporters and photographers, saying they’d just missed a big showdown wherein the National Guard had chased off a huge crowd of armed people intent on rioting.
That wasn’t the case, however.
Things remained quiet throughout the early afternoon as the journalists milled about and chatted with their colleagues. Atop a building across the street from the Nevada Legislature, four snipers stood surveying the . Legislative police walked around the capitol campus. Several told This Is Reno that they were unsurprised by the quiet, adding they had no way of knowing if Inauguration Day on Wednesday will be as uneventful.
By noon, no armed protesters had arrived—and only one woman with a sign had showed up briefly to stand next to Carson Street and wave it at passing motorists before affixing it to a streetlight and leaving. Her sign read, “Trump lost. Be adults. Go home.”
Some journalists began departing Carson City as the noon hour turned to 1 p.m. and still no armed protesters had arrived.
Images from Sunday, when no protesters arrived
Carson City Sheriff’s deputies and Nevada Highway Patrol officers continued to patrol the largely empty scene—a scene that was repeated in many state capital cities across the country, though not all.
According to the New York Times, small groups of protesters did gather at the capitols of Ohio, Texas, Oregon and Michigan.
Also according to the Times, at least “19 states deployed National Guard troops to their capitols, and several shut down statehouse grounds and delayed legislative sessions in response to F.B.I. warnings that white supremacists and right-wing extremists could target capital cities across the country.”
Carson City Sheriff Kenneth Furlong told This Is Reno, “Today went off very, very well. There was no significant—as you’ll know—demonstrations. And I’m very, very pleased that we still continue to have a very strong community.”
One day prior, on Saturday, pro-Trump protesters did have a presence in Carson City, but it was much smaller than past weekends. Those that did attend had shifted their messaging slightly. One man had cut Vice President Mike Pence’s name from his Trump 2020 campaign sign–likely in response to far-right disappointment in Pence who refused to disqualify electoral votes on Jan. 6 as President Trump and his followers had demanded. Cowboy Barbie, a fixture at many pro-Trump rallies, added ropes tied into nooses to their outlandish getup.
