In the crowd, right-wing conspiracy theorists and vaccine skeptics mingled with libertarians, critics of “Big Pharma” and conservative politicians like Haywood. Fresh anger mixed with repackaged old grievances. Only a handful of the three-dozen rally-goers who spoke to TIME said their anti-vaccine stance predated COVID-19, but it was clear that it had become a defining marker of their political identity. Most cast their attendance as a fight against something larger—a way to channel their frustration with the government response to the pandemic, or an outlet for leftover resentment from the 2020 election. All of them said it would be their top priority when they next go to the polls.

“There’s no going back now,” says Addie Johnson, 43, who drove in from Virginia and says she has lost friends and family relationships over her anti-vaccination stance in the past year. “You’re either with this movement or against it.”

Already, opposition to vaccine and mask mandates has become a purity test for Republican officials, as well as a key part of their agenda ahead of this year’s midterm elections. It seems to have turned some of former President Donald Trump’s fervent supporters against him in favor of politicians like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been coy about acknowledging his vaccination status and is not publicly backing such measures. Just 26% of Republicans say they consider vaccine mandates acceptable, according to a CNN poll last month, compared to 82% of Democrats. This partisan divide is evident in the vaccination data itself: unvaccinated adults are three times more likely to lean Republican than Democrat, according to a November analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.