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What Texas politicians said about the chaotic first presidential debate

Texans across the political spectrum commented on the fireworks between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Updated at 11:50 p.m. with more reaction.

Chaos ensued at the first presidential debate, as Democratic nominee Joe Biden and President Donald Trump faced off for the first time in Cleveland Tuesday.

Over the 90-minute debate, Texans across the political spectrum reacted to the mutual bickering and relentless interruptions.

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Former Mayor of San Antonio Julián Castro

Castro, who served as secretary of housing and urban development under President Barack Obama and who ran for the Democratic nomination for president last year, tweeted throughout the debate. As Trump began interrupting and talking over Biden, Castro said saying his five-year-old had more self-control than the president.

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Castro was quick to call out Trump for refusing to condemn white supremacist and militia groups at protests. Instead, Trump told the Proud Boys, a far-right group known for engaging in political violence to “stand back, stand by,” and blamed violence at protests on the Antifa movement.

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Castro said the reason why the president could not condemn white supremacists is that “he is one.”

MJ Hegar, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate

Hegar used Trump’s reference to the Proud Boys as an opportunity to point the staunch support of the president from her opponent, Republican Sen. John Cornyn.

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“The president that John Cornyn supports just told them to ‘stand by,'” she tweeted.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas

Cruz attacked Biden’s energy plan while the two candidates debated policy around climate change.

Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth

Texas briefly entered the spotlight of the debate when Wallace referenced Fort Worth as a city with a Republican mayor that has seen a spike in crime. Veasey, who represents a district running from Fort Worth to West Dallas, said Fort Worth could benefit from Biden’s plan to invest in “community policing.”

“Biden can help make things better with his plan to invest more in community policing,” Veasey said.

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Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo

Acevedo only weighed in once during the evening to contest a claim by Trump that diversity training is “racist.”

Trump made the claim while touting his executive order from earlier this month intended “to combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating.” The order bans federal agencies and contractors from funding such trainings.

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Ronny Jackson, Republican candidate for Texas' 13th Congressional District

Debate moderator Chris Wallace came under fire from politicians across the political spectrum. Many Republicans were outraged with Wallace inserting himself into the debate, by fact-checking the president and calling him out for interrupting Biden.

Jackson called the moderator “an embarrassment to Fox News” and demanded he be fired.

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U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso

Escobar joined the dogpile on Wallace over his inability to gain control of the debate. Some users called for Trump’s microphone to be cut in order to stop him from interrupting Biden. Escobar said there was no need and that a better moderator would have been able to cut through the din.

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Rep. Randy Weber, R-Friendswood

Throughout the debate, Biden laughed and scoffed at Trump, and he even told him to “shut up, man.” At one point, he called the president a “clown.”

Weber responded to Biden’s insult by calling him an “idiot, an imbecile, a Socialist Puppet for the radical left.”

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Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner

The mayor of Houston provided colorful commentary throughout the debate, telling his followers to “pray for our country!” Once the two candidates began to trade barbs in earnest shortly after, Turner offered some advice: “put your children to bed!” And when Wallace was drawn into the conflict later in the evening, he posed a question: “Are you praying for the moderator?”

By the end of the debate, Turner had seen enough.

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“We don’t need another debate,” he tweeted. “Please don’t put the country through this trauma again.”