O’Rourke: I called Cruz ‘lyin’ Ted’ because of his continued ‘dishonest’ attacks

Democratic Senate candidate and congressman Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) said Thursday that he called Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) “lyin’ Ted” in a recent debate because of the continued dishonest attacks Cruz has leveled against him, adding that he believes the nickname is an accurate assessment of the senator. 

“I said ‘look he’s dishonest,'” O’Rourke explained during a CNN Town Hall. “It’s one of the reasons he got tagged with this nickname, and that nickname resonates because it’s true.”

O’Rourke added that Cruz and his campaign have continued to attack him with “dishonest” claims and that he decided during a debate this week that he could either respond to “every single dishonest thing that he said or I could make sure that everyone understood exactly what he’s doing.”

.@BetoORourke to @DanaBashCNN on calling @TedCruz “Lyin’ Ted” in a debate this week: “It’s not something that I feel totally comfortable with, and perhaps, in the heat of the moment, I took a step too far.” pic.twitter.com/gTXqMZsTp5

— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) October 18, 2018

“It’s not something that I feel totally comfortable with, and perhaps, in the heat of the moment, I took a step too far,” O’Rourke later said.

When asked if he regretted using the nickname, O’Rourke responded that he was unsure if “that’s the way I want to be talking in this campaign.”

O’Rourke used the line that President Trump often used to attack Cruz during the 2016 presidential campaign in a debate in San Antonio on Thursday. 

“This is what you can expect over the course of debate,” O’Rourke said during the debate. “Sen. Cruz isn’t going to be honest. He’s dishonest.”

“That’s why [Trump’s] nickname stuck — because it’s true.”

It was one of the many notable moments from a heated debate less than a month before the general election. 

Polls have continued to show Cruz with a solid advantage over O’Rourke. A poll released by CNN this week showed that the Republican senator had a seven-point lead over the congressman.