A member of the audience during Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) address to the GOP midterm convention in Dallas on Thursday repeatedly shouted, “He should be shot,” as the senator listed and criticized prominent Democrats.
Cruz mentioned New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico. And after each name, an unidentified member of the crowd could be heard shouting: “He should be shot.”
Cruz did not acknowledge the shouts during his speech. It’s unclear whether he heard them. He shared video of the moment in his address on X but made no mention of the shouts. See above.
The incident came on the first anniversary of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and amid heightened concern over political violence in the U.S.
El-Sayed responded to the incident during an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, saying: “Look, I’m a dad with two daughters, and I hope those daughters get to grow up and live with their dad.”
“This is what has become norm in our politics. I mean, literally calls to violence and the inability for anybody to actually call it out,” he continued. “Democracy is supposed to be the process by which we solve our problems peacefully. We can learn to disagree agreeably, and when you hear that kind of call to violence, it should be shuddering to all of us.”
“We have a responsibility to lower the temperature, to realize that this is not a blood sport where you’re just trying to bash the other guy. This is about actually solving problems that real people face,” he added. “I hope that everybody who heard that is going to call it out for what it is, a call to violence that ought to be condemned across the board.”
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) wrote on X that “there aren’t even words for how chilling and disturbing this is.”
“Threats of political violence are dangerous, unacceptable, and have no place in our democracy,” she said. “I pray for the safety of all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. This is clear hate, and we must stand up to it wherever and whenever we see it.”
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), meanwhile, said there is “no place for political violence in America” and called on “every single Republican” to denounce the rhetoric immediately, “starting with Ted Cruz.”