Several hundred people rallied outside of Rep. Colin Allred's offices in Richardson on Tuesday evening in support of the congressman's planned vote for impeachment.
For more than an hour, they chanted anti-Trump slogans and waved signs at passing cars. Some drivers sped off, others laid on their horns in solidarity.
Allred was one of the final three Democratic congressmen in Texas to announce their voting intentions. Allred won an upset victory over Republican Pete Sessions in 2018. His district, which covers much of northeastern Dallas County, historically has been a Republican stronghold.
But on Friday, Allred confirmed he would vote to impeach the president.
"We can't afford to lose him," said the event's local organizer, Liz Wally. She said the event had been organized before Allred's announcement, when it was still unclear which way he would vote.
Wally said that 1,200 people had RSVP'd to attend the event, which was one of more than 600 occurring Tuesday night across the nation as part of an effort by MoveOn and other left-leaning advocacy groups to pressure Congress to impeach the president.
Leslie Harris, 69, brought an enormous papier-mâché Trump head, which rallygoers took turns wearing, shooting sideways looks at passing cars along U.S. Highway 75. She said that rallies like this one played a crucial role in mobilizing public support.
"If people take one step out of their comfort zone, it helps them take the next step and the next step," Harris said. "There are people here who have probably never held a sign before."
Darice Doorn was one of them. It was her first protest, she said, and she seemed to have gotten the hang of it. Walking down the sidewalk, she led the crowd in a chant of "Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go!" using a borrowed megaphone.
Ken Sribnick, 71, guessed that the crowd had peaked at 250 people. "It was a nice turnout, especially for this intersection," he said. "This is a nothing intersection, you know, and a lot of people showed up."
In a Friday press release, Allred said he would vote to ratify the two articles of impeachment against the president, citing "uncontroverted facts" that show Trump "attempted to bribe the leader of a foreign nation." Trump is accused of withholding foreign aid in order to coerce Ukraine into investigating his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump has denied the accusations. In a six-page letter published Tuesday and addressed to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, he wrote, "This impeachment represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power by Democrat Lawmakers."
Although Trump's impeachment is likely in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, Republican leaders of the Senate have promised to kill any efforts to remove the president.
The House is expected to vote on each of the two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — late Wednesday afternoon.