Ted Cruz tells a pretty good joke about eating someone's son

In a speech to the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) didn't act like an incumbent in a statistical tie with his Democratic challenger. He was calm, collected, and comfortable discussing cannibalism, The New York Times reports.

Cruz clutched a McDonald's coffee cup as he walked into a glitzy ballroom to address energy executives Tuesday, per the Times. He then took the stage to share what he called his "joyful warrior" approach to this campaign. For example, when Cruz saw a Twitter handle reading "Ted Cruz ate my son," the senator said he "was really tempted to tweet, 'He was delicious.'" But he didn't, because he said he's here to "have fun" and ignore the hate as the midterms approach.

The senator has faced an unexpectedly strong challenge from the progressive Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who's essentially campaigning on the hope that Texans find Cruz too slimy to re-elect. White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney even suggested Cruz might lose because he's not "likable," the Times previously reported.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But Cruz said Tuesday that he would rather not respond to "extreme anger and hatred on the other side" — a category that certainly includes accusations of eating other humans. Cruz's "job is to represent 28 million Texans," he said, and he takes it "deadly seriously.”