The People’s Convoy canceled their previously scheduled lap around the D.C. Beltway Wednesday due to rain, but organizers say they are pleased with Tuesday’s meeting with Senators. 

Convoy organizers met with Republican Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Ted Cruz of Texas on Tuesday to voice frustrations over mandates and the national state of emergency. A short time later, a larger group of protestors met with Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie for a “trucker round table” on Capitol Hill, reported The Virginia Pilot.

“That convoy, to our neighbor up north, was powerful, and they spoke out for freedom. The People’s Convoy continues that legacy,” Cruz said to the organizers at the meeting on Capitol Hill. “Your stories are powerful. And the politicians, the petty tyrants, they need to hear — and frankly, they need to leave you the hell alone.”

This response pleased organizers of the convoy, including Brian Brase, who has been the head of the People’s Convoy since the beginning. 

“We’re gonna keep doing what we’re doing, until we start getting more meetings like we just had today,” Brase said. “Our demands, if you want to say, have been pretty clear: end the state of emergency, end the vaccine mandates, and let’s start holding both our elected and unelected officials accountable for their actions that led to this.”

“They want government to leave them the hell alone,” Cruz said. “They want the mandates and the emergency ended. That’s what they’re demanding, and the meetings are how they get them.”

“We should vote on it. We should end the emergency. We voted two weeks ago on ending the mandates. I had an amendment to end the vaccine mandates for kids,” Cruz said, referencing his January attempt to block a Washington D.C. vaccine mandate in schools. “We need to get that done because it’s the right thing to do.”

Now that the group has the ear of several state Senators, Brase says that directing their efforts at the state level may be the next step if the federal government fails to observe their demands. 

“If we don’t start gaining any traction on the federal grounds, and while still staying where we are, yeah, I believe a call to action will be necessary to push into the states and help the states pressure the federal government,” Brase said.

Brase cancelled the group’s planned lap around the D.C. Beltway today apparently due to rain, and told truckers to take the day to rest, reported The Independent. He also reportedly walked around the area with a bag for donations.