At the Republican midterm conference on Thursday nite, shouts of "he should be shot" could be heard many times while Texas Senator Ted Cruz was calling out specific Democratic leaders.

Cruz cited three Democrats: Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Shouts of "He should be shot!" could be heard on the broadcast following each name.

Cruz and the Republican National Committee did not immediately reply to demands for comment, and it was unclear whether Cruz heard the yells.

On the one-year anniversary of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination, however, several Republicans condemned political violence on the same day that the yells occurred. In a keynote address, Vise President JD Vance, who was close with Kirk, discussed his murder.

El-Sayed gave his response in an interview with Kaitlan Collins on CNN's "The Source."

He said to Collins, "I'm a father with two daughters, and I hope those daughters get to grow up and live with their dad." In our politics, this has become the standard. Calls to violence, that is.

"Everyone who heard" the yells should condemn them, he continued.

A year ago, Kirk, one of Turning Point USA's co-founders, was shot and died on a Utah college campus. He was thirty-one.

As the second day of convention speakers began, RNC Chairman Joe Gruters declared, "Charlie was killed one year ago today." "He believed in America, freedom, and the bravery of young people to stand up and defend the nation they love."

Other than that, a large portion of Thursday's comments focused on denouncing Democrats as having extremist ideologies. While Cruz was urging Republicans to consider Mamdani, El-Sayed, and Talarico's previous remarks and stances, cries of "He should be shot!" could be heard.

Cruz stated, "A simple truth: Believe people when they tell you who they are." "Mamdani is serious when he says he wants to take control of the means of production."

The senator from Texas stated, "Abdul El-Sayed means it when he says he has a, quote, 'obligation,' to comply with Sharia law."

Cruz added, "And James Talarico means it when he says he wants to destroy capitalism."

According to Politifact, Mamdani, a democratic socialist, discussed "the end goal of seizing the means of production" in a 2021 speech outlining his political views. A spokeswoman stated that taking the means of production was not part of his policy when the remark was brought up during his 2025 mayoral campaign.

El-Sayed, a medical student at the time, stated in a 2009 interview with The New York Times that he had a "duty" to adhere to Sharia law while purchasing his first property, which is the basis for Cruz's critique of El-Sayed. Finding a mortgage can be more difficult for Muslims because they are prohibited from paying interest on loans.

Cruz was also criticizing Talarico for a previous CNN article in which he claimed that capitalism, along with climate change and White supremacy, needs to be "dismantl(ed)" in 2020. In reaction to the CNN article, Talarico's campaign declared the Democrat a "proud capitalist."

One day before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Cruz mentioned Kirk's murder in his address while criticizing what he called an increasing wave of radicalism in politics.

Cruz stated, "The hate that killed Charlie Kirk, brought down the Twin Towers, and resulted in two assassination attempts on President Trump just keeps getting worse and worse."

In the CNN interview, El-Sayed concurred that hate was taking over politics.

"We should all shudder when we hear that kind of call to violence," he remarked. "I hope everyone who heard that will call it out for what it is: a call for violence that should be universally condemned."

In an X post, Massachusetts Representative Katherine Clark, the second-ranking Democrat in the House, denounced the yells and stated that "every single Republican" need to do the same. Additionally, Michigan Democrat Rep. Debbie Dingell spoke, referring to them as "clear hate."