Shouts of ‘he should be shot’ heard during GOP midterm convention speech criticizing Democratic candidates

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Shouts of “he should be shot” could be heard multiple times Thursday night at the Republican midterm convention as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was criticizing prominent Democratic politicians by name.

Cruz mentioned three Democrats — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. After each name, there were shouts audible on the broadcast of “He should be shot!”

It was unclear if Cruz heard the shouts, and representatives for the senator and the Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

But the shouts came on the same day that many Republicans denounced political violence on the one-year anniversary of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Vice President JD Vance, who was friends with Kirk, reflected on his killing in a headlining speech.

El-Sayed responded during an interview on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.”

“I’m a dad with two daughters and I hope those daughters get to grow up and live with their dad,” he told Collins. “This is what has become norm in our politics. I mean, literally calls to violence.”

He added that “everybody who heard” the shouts should condemn them.

Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on a Utah college campus a year ago. He was 31.

“Charlie was killed one year ago today,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said as the second day of convention speeches kicked off. “He believed in America and freedom and young people’s courage to stand up and fight for the country they love.”

Many of Thursday’s speeches were otherwise devoted to attacking Democrats as ideologically radical. The shouts of “He should be shot!” could be heard while Cruz was telling Republicans to take seriously the past comments and positions of Mamdani, El-Sayed and Talarico.

“A simple truth: When people tell you who they are, believe them,” Cruz said. “When Mamdani says he wants to seize the means of protection, he means it.”

“When Abdul El-Sayed says he has a, quote, ‘obligation,’ to comply with Sharia law, he means it,” the Texas senator said.

“And when James Talarico says he wants to dismantle capitalism, he means it,” Cruz said.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist, spoke about “the end goal of seizing the means of production” during a 2021 speech discussing his political beliefs, according to Politifact. When the comment came up during his 2025 mayoral campaign, a spokesperson said his platform did not include seizing the means of production.

Cruz’s criticism of El-Sayed stems from a 2009 interview with The New York Times where El-Sayed, then a medical student, said he felt an “obligation” to follow Sharia law in buying his first home. Muslims are discouraged from paying interest on loans, which can make seeking out a mortgage more complicated.

And Cruz was calling out Talarico over a recent CNN report that he said in 2020 that capitalism needed to be “dismantl(ed)” along with White supremacy and climate change. Talarico’s campaign said the Democrat was a “proud capitalist” in response to the CNN story.

Cruz brought up Kirk’s killing during his speech while denouncing what he described as a rising tide of extremism in politics, one day before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

“The hate that killed Charlie Kirk, that knocked down the Twin Towers, that led to two assassination attempts on President Trump, it just gets keeping getting worse and worse,” Cruz said.

El-Sayed agreed in the CNN interview that politics was becoming too consumed by hate.

“When you hear that kind of call to violence, it should be shuddering to all of us,” he said. “I hope that everybody who heard that is going to call it out for what it is: a call for violence that ought to be condemned across the board.”

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周四晚，在共和党中期选举大会上，当德克萨斯州参议员特德·克鲁兹点名批评几位知名的民主党政客时，多次听到“应该枪毙他”的喊声。

克鲁兹提到了三位民主党人——纽约市市长佐兰·马姆达尼、密歇根州参议员候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德和德克萨斯州参议员候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科。每提到一个名字，广播中就能听到“他应该被枪毙！”的喊声。

目前尚不清楚克鲁兹是否听到了这些喊叫声，这位参议员和共和党全国委员会的代表均未立即回应置评请求。

但就在同一天，许多共和党人谴责了政治暴力，当天也是保守派活动家查理·柯克遇刺一周年纪念日。与柯克交好的副总统JD·万斯在一次重要讲话中缅怀了柯克的遇害。

埃尔-赛义德在接受 CNN 节目“凯特兰·柯林斯的来源”采访时作出了回应。

“我有两个女儿，我希望她们长大后能和她们的父亲一起生活，”他告诉柯林斯。“这已经成为我们政治的常态。我的意思是，这简直就是在煽动暴力。”

他还补充说，“所有听到”这些叫喊声的人都应该谴责他们。

美国转折点组织联合创始人柯克一年前在犹他州一所大学校园内遭枪击身亡，年仅31岁。

“查理今天遇害一年了，”共和党全国委员会主席乔·格鲁特斯在大会第二天演讲开始时说道。“他信仰美国，信仰自由，也相信年轻人有勇气站出来为他们所爱的国家而战。”

周四的许多演讲都集中在攻击民主党人在意识形态上过于激进。当克鲁兹敦促共和党人认真对待马姆达尼、埃尔-赛义德和塔拉里科过去的言论和立场时，现场不时响起“他应该被枪毙！”的喊声。

克鲁兹说：“一个简单的道理：当人们告诉你他们是谁时，要相信他们。当马姆达尼说他要夺取保护手段时，他是认真的。”

“当阿卜杜勒·赛义德说他有义务遵守伊斯兰教法时，他是认真的，”这位德克萨斯州参议员说。

克鲁兹说：“詹姆斯·塔拉里科说他想瓦解资本主义，他是认真的。”

据 Politifact 报道，民主社会主义者马姆达尼在 2021 年的一次演讲中谈到了他的政治信仰，并提及了“夺取生产资料的最终目标”。然而，在他 2025 年的市长竞选期间，当这一言论被提及时，一位发言人表示，他的竞选纲领中并不包括夺取生产资料。

克鲁兹对埃尔-赛义德的批评源于2009年《纽约时报》对他的一次采访。当时还是医学生的埃尔-赛义德表示，他觉得自己有“义务”在购买第一套房产时遵守伊斯兰教法。伊斯兰教法不鼓励穆斯林支付贷款利息，这使得他们申请抵押贷款变得更加复杂。

克鲁兹公开指责塔拉里科，原因是CNN最近的一篇报道称，塔拉里科在2020年曾表示，资本主义需要与白人至上主义和气候变化一起被“瓦解”。针对CNN的报道，塔拉里科的竞选团队回应称，这位民主党候选人是一位“骄傲的资本家”。

在9·11事件25周年纪念日的前一天，克鲁兹在演讲中提到了柯克的遇害事件，并谴责了他所说的政治中日益高涨的极端主义浪潮。

克鲁兹说：“导致查理·柯克丧生、世贸双塔倒塌、特朗普总统两次遇刺未遂的仇恨，只会愈演愈烈。”

埃尔-赛义德在接受 CNN 采访时也表示，政治越来越被仇恨所吞噬。

他说：“听到这种煽动暴力的言论，我们所有人都应该感到不寒而栗。我希望所有听到这种言论的人都能认清它的本质：这是一种煽动暴力的言论，应该受到全面谴责。”