As supporters of Donald Trump during the election, Deb Atchison and her husband, Mark, a U.S. Air Force veteran, couldn’t wait to see the president in person Monday night in Louisville, Kentucky.

Trump spoke to a packed crowd of around 18,000, including many Hoosiers, at a campaign-style rally at Freedom Hall, while around 1,200 protesters lined up outside to make sure their voices were heard.

“The line was crazy long to get in,” said Atchison, a Seymour resident. “We had to pass through Secret Service security to get into the arena. It was great, the arena was packed.”

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During his remarks, which lasted 40 minutes, Trump sought public support for his plan to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law.

He also spoke about reworking trade deals, bolstering the military and curbing illegal immigration by building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

“We will build, that’s right, a great, great border wall,” Trump said. “And we will stop the drugs that are pouring into our country and poisoning our youth.”

Trump touched on his executive order to ban immigrants from six majority-Muslim countries in the Middle East, saying it was necessary to “keep the foreign terrorists out.”

His immigration ban has been held up in the courts as multiple federal judges ruled that it unfairly targets Muslims.

“I’ve had a little problem with the courts not wanting to give us the decisions we should be given, but we’ll win it,” Trump said.

Atchison said the rally was positive and a good way for Trump to stay connected to the public.

“There was a lot of energy and so much patriotism,” she said. “He is following through on his campaign promises.”

Rick Wilson of Seymour also attended the Louisville rally to support the president and his efforts to “Make America Great Again.”

Wilson said he knew Trump was going to be president when he saw him on television in June 2015.

“I looked over at my wife and said, ‘There’s our next president.’ She said, ‘No way.’ I then said, ‘Trust me on this one,’” he said.

Wilson also said Monday’s rally made him feel like he was a part of something very exciting.

“The atmosphere was electric, very positive, very patriotic, extremely united and very supportive of President Trump,” he said. “It was the same speech he’s been giving for a while. It was just great to hear him say it in person.”

Seymour resident Anna-Leigh Boyd and her husband were avid supporters of Trump during his presidential campaign and even had tickets and reservations to attend his inauguration in Washington, D.C., in January.

The couple ended up not going because of the security risk.

“When I saw that Trump was having a rally in Louisville, I told my husband this is how he could make it up to me,” Boyd said, laughing. “I’ve never seen a president in person, and I think it’s great that he is holding rallies like this. These rallies make him seem very accessible to the people.”

Boyd said the rally was “dynamic,” and there weren’t as many protesters as she expected.

“Everyone was excited to be there,” she said. “Some of the people we talked to had driven from eastern Kentucky and from Illinois to be there.”

As far as what Trump had to say, Boyd said more people need to listen.

“He talked a lot about the health care bill he wants to see passed and how negatively Obamacare has impacted all of us,” she said. “The biggest response he received was when he talked about securing our borders. It was definitely the subject that the majority of that crowd was passionate about.”

But the couple’s favorite line of the night wasn’t even about politics.

“When he told the Louisville basketball fans to worry about rebuilding their team and he would worry about rebuilding the country, it was great,” she said.