Beto O’Rourke opposes Ted Cruz attending Biden inauguration after challenging election results

Following the announcement that Republican Senator Ted Cruz would attend President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, former Democratic Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke tweeted his opposition to Cruz attending the ceremony.

According to The Texas Tribune, both Cruz and his fellow Texas Senator John Cornyn confirmed that they plan to attend the inauguration, where Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president.

O’Rourke, who ran against Cruz for his Senate seat in 2018, condemned the senator for his intention to attend, saying he shouldn’t be allowed. The former congressman accused Cruz of sedition and inciting the violent protesters who invaded the Capitol on January 6, which lead to the deaths of five people.

“Don’t let Cruz attend the inauguration. His attempt at sedition and his incitement to violent insurrectionists should result in his expulsion from the Senate. He certainly shouldn’t be allowed at a celebration of the peaceful transfer of presidential power,” O’Rourke wrote.

In another tweet, O’Rourke quote-tweeted Cruz, who shared an op-ed from media consultant Ari Fleischer on Fox News. Cruz quoted the line “The GOP should be America’s blue-collar, populist, outsider party, dedicated to individual and religious freedom. It should be the party that stands up to China. And it should do all this without saying or doing crazy things,” and labeled it “True.” Cruz did cut off the last part of the line, which continued, “that scare college-educated voters, especially women.”

O’Rourke took a jab at the senator. He wrote, “Like participating in sedition?”, seemingly implying that that was one of the “crazy things” the GOP shouldn’t say or do.

Prior to the mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters breaching the Capitol building on January 6, Cruz, along with other Republican House and Senate members, announced that he would challenge the election results as Congress was set to certify them.

While Cruz publicly denounced the protesters who stormed the Capitol, some other politicians, including Democratic New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called on him and Senator Josh Hawley to resign. Cruz and Hawley also face the possibility of being censured by Senate Democrats.

“Both you and Senator Hawley must resign. If you do not, the Senate should move for your expulsion,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a January 7 tweet, responding to Cruz condemning the rioters who stormed the Capitol.

Besides Democratic politicians, anti-Trump conservative super PAC the Lincoln Project also released an ad blasting Cruz and Hawley.

“This is your coup. This is your siege. This is your insurrection. With your support for Donald Trump, you have brought this shame to America,” the narrator in the clip says.

Newsweek reached out to Cruz’s office and O’Rourke’s Powered by People organization for comment.