Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) joked at a campaign rally that his opponent in the state’s Senate race, Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D), could join 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in a “double-occupancy” prison cell.
The senator responded with the jab at Clinton to a rally audience member’s call to “lock him up!”, reportedly referring to O’Rourke, according to multiple reports.
“Well, you know, there’s a double-occupancy cell with Hillary Clinton,” Cruz said at a rally in Georgetown, Texas, north of Austin, alongside fellow Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). He then added: “Y’all are gonna get me in trouble with that.”
Attendees of rallies for President Trump used the chant “lock her up!” throughout 2016 and well into Trump’s presidency to refer to Clinton and the FBI investigation into her use of a private email server at the State Department. The investigation faulted the former secretary for carelessness but declined to pursue charges against her.
{mosads}More recently, the chant was used to refer to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) during a Trump rally in Iowa earlier this month after the president mentioned the senator by name.
O’Rourke and Cruz are locked in a tight race for Cruz’s Senate seat, with most polls showing the Texas senator leading by single digits. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Cruz leading by an average of 7 percentage points.
O’Rourke’s success in the deep-red state has inspired a major cash flow from Democrats around the country, with his campaign reporting a record $38 million in fundraising in the 3rd quarter of 2018.