A thick crowd filled the lobby of the Comfort Suites Hotel in Urbana on Saturday, composed of recently fled Indiana legislators and their supporters.

The group waited for instructions to join their already rallying supporters that included various union workers and Champaign organizations. Groups that were present included members of the Champaign County Democrats, the student-organized Illini Democrats, and the Graduate Employees Organization. The Democratic legislators, who arrived in Urbana on Wednesday, fled their state to prevent the passing of what they consider “anti-union” legislation proposed by the Republican-controlled assembly. This was the second rally within the past week caused by the presence of the fled Indiana Democrats. A previous protest was organized by the Champaign Tea Party on Thursday telling the legislators to go back to their home state, which was also met with a counter protest in support of the legislators.

State Rep. Terry Goodin, a fled Democrat who represents southern Indiana, said he and his colleagues would “stay as long as it takes.”

“We are not going to let the Republican Party in Indiana try to abolish the working class. We are not going to let them take us back 50 years,” he said.

Marya Burke, Champaign resident, said she wanted to thank the legislators for doing “what they should be doing, supporting public workers and supporting their rights for what they deserve.”

Al Kurtz, county board representative of the seventh district, said it was obvious there were budget problems in every state in the country, “but to take it out on the backs of the working people and unions and allowing companies to exploit workers is something we can’t go back to.”

“They support hard working people,” Kurtz said. “The middle class is what runs our country.”

Many union workers rallied with the lawmakers, including members of the International Union of Painters & Allied Trades and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, including members of the Champaign Chapter 601.

A few members of the Illiana (Illinois-Indiana) Tea Party began to hold signs in protest of the fled lawmakers.

Al Reynolds, Danville, Ill., resident, who previously ran for Illinois State Senate last year, said the legislators were elected to do a job and need to do it.

“Go home and go to work, like the rest of us,” he said.

Ruth Hunt, Catlin, Ill., resident, agreed with Reynolds and added that as a former teacher, she was forced to pay dues to the union even though she did not want to become a member.

“Why should I be required to pay hundreds of dollars for something that I don’t necessarily believe in?” she asked.

Reynolds said the main problem was that teachers do not have a say in how the unions spend the collected money.

“If they have an issue, the teachers don’t get to vote on it. The union bosses do,” he said. “(Teachers) have no say at all about the money collected. That’s not right.”

Amy Campbell, a third-grade teacher from Martinsville, Ind., traveled to Urbana to show her support for the Democrats.

“I think it’s amazing that some of these teachers that I have been talking to are from Illinois, and I never thought about them standing up for me. It’s overwhelming,” she said.

State Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis, said she was part of the rally because she was thankful to the people who have come to rally for her and her colleagues.

Goodin agreed that he appreciated the support of Champaign.

“We are out here doing what we think is right and what many Hoosiers think is right,” Goodin said. “To have these folks step up and join us in this is absolutely wonderful; it’s very heartening.”