It’s no secret that third-party presidential nominees Jill Stein and Gary Johnson are chomping at the bit to participate in the presidential debates. Unfortunately, neither nominee joined Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump onstage for the first of the debates, held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Monday night. Each found a way to make their voices heard in the political cacophony, however.

Stein was escorted from the Hofstra campus because she reportedly “didn’t have credentials to be there.” She shared images of her police escort via Twitter:

We were immediately escorted off of the Hofstra campus after the press conference just now and told not to do any more press. #debatenight pic.twitter.com/ZFr49NPMuH — Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 26, 2016

After being escorted from Hofstra campus for doing an interview, police put us in a van which was stopped not once, but twice. #debatenight pic.twitter.com/IgQJMoCNWZ — Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 26, 2016

Following her removal from campus, Stein was joined by dozens of activists protesting the exclusionary nature of the debates. Stein used the streaming app Periscope to share video of the protests on her Twitter page, tagged with #OccupyTheDebates:

Stein also reported that more than a dozen protesters had been arrested, and claimed that the Green Party’s official website was hacked to keep voters from seeing her platform.

Johnson, who has repeatedly urged for inclusion in the debates, watched them from Twitter’s Manhattan headquarters. Perhaps due to his exclusion, Johnson was reportedly on edge. Lizzie Crocker of The Daily Beast described him as “instantly irate” during interactions with reporters and said that his running mate, Bill Weld, had to intervene repeatedly to calm the situation. Crocker writes:

Minutes before [Monday] night’s presidential debate began, Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate and former New Mexico governor, was shouting at a reporter in a conference room in the basement of Twitter’s New York City headquarters. … This was not the warm, affable Johnson we know, the 63-year-old, mountain-climbing triathlete and first major national politician to favor legalizing marijuana. You half expected him to break the silence with a characteristically goofy grin—his own “gotcha” moment. Instead, Johnson became more enraged. Certainly this was no act, but he wanted to make a point that he’d be just as bullish if the issue came up in a debate.

Despite these incidents, both Johnson and Stein were able to settle down and log in to Twitter in time for the opening of the debate.

The two third-party candidates reacted to the full spectrum of issues covered in the first debate, such as taxes, the criminal justice system, cybersecurity and foreign policy. Johnson commented via written tweets, while Stein occasionally commented via live video:

Eliminate income tax. Eliminate corporate tax. Replace with one federal consumption tax. Check out the #FAIRtax #debates — Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) September 27, 2016

Trump is talking about major tax cuts for the 1%. Both the Dems & GOP have a history of tax cuts for the wealthy. #OccupyTheDebates #debates — Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 27, 2016

#stopandfrisk – didn’t we fight wars to stop policies like this? #debates — Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) September 27, 2016

We need action to ensure that communities control their police, instead of police controlling our communities. #OccupyTheDebates #debates — Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 27, 2016

Here’s the point in the debate where the two candidates try to outdo themselves on #NSA #spying against innocent Americans. #debates — Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) September 27, 2016

We need an international treaty to prevent cyberwarfare. The Chinese are willing to join us on this. #debates pic.twitter.com/WhL89FQoc3 — Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 27, 2016

I opposed the #iraqwar from the beginning. I thought we had the military surveillance capability to see WMDs and act on them #debates — Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) September 27, 2016

After spending trillions in Iraq & Afghanistan, we’ve gotten failed states, mass refugee migrations & worse terrorist threats. #debates — Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 27, 2016

By the end of the debate, both nominees expressed dismay in Trump and Clinton:

Lots of name-calling & mud wrestling at the #debates. The American people deserve much better. #OccupyTheDebates — Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 27, 2016

Neither the rhetoric of @realDonaldTrump nor the record of @HillaryClinton depicts the Commander in Chief I want #debates — Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) September 27, 2016

Johnson

and Stein each wrapped up their live-tweeting with additional pleas for inclusion in the next two debates.

After the debate ended, there was still plenty to discuss. Stein joined Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now!” for a live after-show. Instead of simply breaking down Trump and Clinton’s positions, Stein was shown clips from the debate and asked to respond as though she had been onstage. Goodman served as the “moderator.”

The candidates were still at it Tuesday morning. Johnson joined Reason Magazine’s Matt Welch for a post-debate Facebook Live interview, in which they fielded questions from the audience. Stein, meanwhile, sat down with The Huffington Post’s Alyona Minkovski for a post-debate analysis.

According to the most recent polls, Stein and Johnson still do not have enough support to be included in the next debate, according to rules established by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Both candidates have launched petitions asking for inclusion in the debates; Stein’s has more than 100,000 signatures, while Johnson’s has topped 1 million.

—Posted by Emma Niles