At a campaign rally on Wednesday, Beto O'Rourke approached a heckler who laughed while he was discussing the Uvalde school massacre. He told the guy, "It may be funny to you, motherfucker, but it is not funny to me."
The incident occurred at a Democratic candidate for governor's nighttime town hall in Mineral Wells, and it instantly went viral online thereafter. As O'Rourke depicted the effect of AR-15s, dropping to his knees to underscore what he said were the battlefield capabilities of the rifle, loud laughter could be heard throughout live broadcasts of the event.
Long applause and shouts from the audience accompanied O'Rourke's reprimand of the offender. He soon went on to another topic in his campaign address, wanting to keep youngsters safe as the new school year got underway.
It's unclear who precisely was laughing, however, tweets from the occasion revealed there were protestors in attendance with Greg Abbott campaign banners. After O'Rourke's remark, the camera shifted to the group in a live broadcast, and one of them was seen giggling.
After the incident, O'Rourke tweeted, "Nothing more serious to me than achieving justice for the family in Uvalde and stopping this from ever occurring again."
O'Rourke had previously addressed heckling at events when talking about gun violence. Last month in Snyder, he gave a less direct response, saying, "Might be hilarious to you. No, not to me.
O'Rourke is touring the state for 49 days, and the Abbott team has been planning demonstrations at his visits. Because of this, there have been some contentious situations as well as amicable ones between O'Rourke and Republicans who have attended. Throughout the trip, he has shared several social media updates showcasing his interactions with attendees who were sporting Republican clothing.
Abbott's team warned demonstrators last month not to provide O'Rourke with the chance for such picture opportunities. GOP activists were warned in an email from Rhonda Anderson, Abbott's director of grassroots engagement, "not [to] go inside or talk to Beto if wearing or carrying any Abbott gear."
He has been taking photographs with our fans and putting them online while claiming to be persuading them to back him, Anderson claimed.
But not every occurrence has been amicable. In a video shared on social media, O'Rourke can be seen exiting a Rockdale event on Sunday while being escorted by police. Some of the demonstrators in the raucous crowd are holding placards supporting Abbott.
The Rockdale Reporter, a local newspaper, later reported that O'Rourke had visited Rockdale for the first time since the late 1960s.
A protester who was being removed from an O'Rourke rally in Midland last month slapped a phone out of the hand of O'Rourke staffer Cynthia Cano in another video that has garnered a lot of attention online. According to Chris Evans, a spokesman for O'Rourke, she was reacting to another demonstrator who was annoying many guests. The demonstrator was handcuffed by Midland police who were on the scene, but no one chose to file charges, according to Evans.
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