Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Michigan, responded after an audience member at the Republican midterm convention called for him to be “shot.”
The call to violence was heard as Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, addressed the Dallas crowd on the second night of the first-of-its-kind convention.
Cruz singled out three Democrats: Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and El-Sayed. After each line of criticism, a man in the audience could be heard yelling, “He should be shot!”
During an interview with CNN later on Thursday night, host Kaitlin Collins asked El-Sayed what went through his mind when he heard the interjection.
“Look, I’m a dad with two daughters, and I hope those daughters get to grow up and live with their dad,” the 41-year-old candidate said. “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.”
“Democracy is supposed to be the process by which we solve our problems peacefully,” he continued. “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 release that this is not a bloodsport, where you’re just trying to bash the other guy.”
El-Sayed added that he entered politics not to defeat Republicans but to solve problems, such as reforming the U.S. health care system.
“And so 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 — and that we can actually turn our politics back into a conversation about what really matters,” he said.
A representative for Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate running against El-Sayed, told CNN that Rogers “condemns those comments — and all political violence.”
Experts have warned that political violence is rising in the U.S., citing high-profile cases such as the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the killing of a Minnesota Democratic lawmaker and the multiple assassination attempts against President Donald Trump.
Recently, an armed man charged toward Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, during a campaign event at a state fair, prosecutors said.
El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and progressive who supports Medicare for All, won the Democratic nomination last month. He will face off against Rogers, a former congressman, in the November 3 election.
Recent polls indicate it is shaping up to be a close race.
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