Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump returned to Illinois for the first time since abruptly canceling a Chicago rally Friday night amid intense protests, pitching his populist economic message to a Downstate crowd gathered at an airplane hangar.

“Your taxes are through the roof, your companies are leaving you. You have nothing going,” said Trump, who then went on to blast Ohio’s economy and Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s vote as a congressman in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Ohio, like Illinois, votes Tuesday, and Trump and Kasich are running close in the governor’s home state.

Multiple pockets of protesters made themselves known inside the rally, yelling “Dump Trump” as they were booed and escorted out by security. Some held colorful flags with peace signs, while others ripped up Trump signs and flashed T-shirts supporting Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.

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“Get them out of here, please,” said Trump, a reality show TV star. “You see where they place themselves? Right in front of the cameras. Disgusting.”

The Republican presidential front-runner pulled the plug on a Friday night rally in Chicago as thousands of protesters gathered outside and hundreds more were in the arena after getting tickets online through his campaign. After Trump canceled, citing security concerns, there were scattered skirmishes between supporters and demonstrators inside and outside the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion.

“So in Chicago, what happened, we did a cancellation, we did a postponement,” Trump said. “Maybe I can say we did a postponement until today, that way I can get away without having to do it again, because I’ll do it again.”

Security in Bloomington was tight, with attendees told to leave bags and umbrellas in their vehicles, forcing some to don black trash bags to protect against the rain as they waited to pass through metal detectors. Hundreds of people didn’t make it inside. Also outside was a group of about 100 protesters, who waved anti-Trump signs and chanted “Mr. Hate, leave our state,” but were kept several blocks away to avoid confrontations.

The stop comes amid a flurry of visits from presidential hopefuls ahead of Illinois’ Tuesday primary election, and Trump took multiple swipes at Democrats and Republicans alike. He accused Sanders of flailing, labeled Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as “Lying Ted” and declared he would sweep Kasich in his home state of Ohio.

“We are quite a bit ahead in Illinois, but I don’t want to tell you that,” saying he still wanted attendees to get to the polls. “The more we win by … the more delegates we’re going to get.

“I will never let you down,” Trump said. “You will say it’s the most important vote you ever cast.”

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At one point, after again saying he would build a wall along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration, Trump pulled a man up to the stage who was wearing a shirt that read “legal immigrant for Trump.”

As for building the wall, Trump said, “We’ll insist on using Caterpillar, not Komatsu,” a shoutout to the tractor maker and large employer headquartered 45 miles away in Peoria.

Attendees ranged from families with young children, curious students from nearby Illinois State University and married couples from houses divided, with one spouse supporting Trump, others supporting his fellow Republican candidates Cruz or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Others oppose Trump but said they came out to see for themselves what he had to say and what his supporters were like. Lynnea Willams and Candace Rivas, 19-year-old friends from Waukegan, were among them. They said they wanted to see Trump for themselves before standing by their opinions to oppose him.

Rivas said she was disturbed by the “crazy” scene in Chicago. “It’s surprising to see so many people supporting someone who has these beliefs that are so very, very wrong.”

Diane Vespa said she became a Trump supporter in April 2015 after hearing him speak in Iowa. A longtime fan of Trump’s reality show, “The Apprentice,” she was impressed by his message and is now a volunteer for his campaign, handing out “Veterans for Trump” signs at the rally.

Vespa said she wasn’t worried about potential protests. She called the airplane hangar “the safest place in America right now” because of all the security but said she hoped Trump’s opponents wouldn’t continue to infringe on free speech, saying she expected “lots of interruptions.”

“I think it’s a shame that we are not left in peace to express our speech and to participate in democracy. I feel like they’re trying to shut democracy down,” Vespa said of the protesters in Chicago. “And I’m very unhappy with the other Republican candidates who talk about the Constitution but refuse to defend it.”

Christopher Jackson, 51, originally supported Ben Carson but said Trump was his second choice. He said he was at Trump’s canceled Chicago rally, describing the scene as “chaotic” and calling the protesters hateful.

“People were scared,” said Jackson, who is from Plainfield. “But we’re not afraid to come here.”

Jackson was interrupted by boos from the crowd as security escorted protesters from the airplane hangar. “They walk into a hornet’s nest and don’t think they are going to get stung,” he said.

Jackson said he hoped people would come to understand that Trump and his supporters have been misrepresented. They’re not racist, he explained, they just want someone who will clean up Washington’s corruption and put an end to illegal immigration.

“Nobody in here is against immigration. It’s what our country was built on,” he said. “But do it legally. We don’t hate anybody.”

The Bloomington speech came after Trump appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he said he doesn’t condone violence at his rallies but also does not “take responsibility” for the tense atmosphere at his events that his rhetoric creates.

“I don’t condone violence,” said Trump, who described those who interrupt him as “disrupters,” not protesters. Trump attributed the “tension” at his rallies to the failure of the federal government to create a good economic environment that treats veterans poorly.

Trump said he has “instructed his people” to look into paying the legal fees of a 78-year-old man charged with assault after he sucker punched a protester at a North Carolina rally. “He loves his country” and may have gotten “carried away,” said Trump, who argued the supporter was provoked by the protester.

Before the Bloomington speech, Trump was endorsed by state Rep. John Cabello, a Republican from a Rockford-area district. Cabello cited Trump’s support for gun rights and status as a nonestablishment candidate. Cabello told the Trump crowd that he’s Hispanic, but first he’s an American. Trump was widely criticized last summer for saying Mexico was sending rapists, drug runners and other criminals to the U.S.

“What happened in Chicago does not speak for us,” Cabello told the crowd, reminding them to vote for Trump convention delegates as well.

The winner of Illinois’ Republican primary gets 15 national convention nominating delegates. Voters directly elect an additional 54 delegates, three from each of the state’s 18 congressional districts. The candidates in delegate contests are pledged to individual presidential contenders.

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