Here’s the Most Memorable Moment of the First Texas Senate Debate

Membership ticker

Right now is no time to come up short.

It's time to fight like hell for a democracy where minority rule cannot impose an extreme and cruel agenda, where the Big Lie is called a Big Lie, where facts matter, and where accountability at the polls and in the press has a fighting chance. We have our work cut out for us, and we urgently need to raise about 400,000 by Thursday, June 30, to finish our fiscal year on track and give it everything we possibly can. Please help us get there with a donation if you can right now.

$1,150,000

$1,350,000

Right now is no time to come up short. It's time to fight like hell for a democracy where minority rule cannot impose an extreme and cruel agenda, where facts matter, and where accountability at the polls and in the press has a fighting chance. We have our work cut out for us, and we still need to raise upwards of 400,000 by June 30 to give it everything we can. Please help:

Tom Fox/Dallas Morning News/Associated Press

Facts matter: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter. Support our nonprofit reporting. Subscribe to our print magazine.

If you wanted to summarize Friday’s Texas Senate debate between Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in just one exchange, it would probably be the last one. Just before closing statements, at the end of an often-contentious 50 minutes, the moderators from the Dallas Morning News and NBC’s Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate asked each candidate to say something nice about the other.

O’Rourke said he believed Cruz was working sincerely to make the world better for his young kids. Here’s Cruz’s response:

What does @TedCruz admire about @BetoORourke?

“I think Congressman O’Rourke is passionate, energetic.”

Watch the debate here, courtesy of @NBCDFW. https://t.co/YrOsTJAA4L #txsen #tx2018 #txsendebate pic.twitter.com/qKxbj2PtFz

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) September 21, 2018