Ted Cruz was scolded by the Democratic Senate challenger for laughing at the Jan. 6 comment during the heated debate

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Senator Ted Cruz was brutally bashed by Democratic Senate challenger Colin Allred during Tuesday's heated debate when the Republican laughed off a comment about the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots.

In their first — and only — Senate debate before Election Day in less than three weeks, Texas lawmakers traded remarks on the debate stage about abortion, the southern border and the economy.

Allred also criticized Cruz's 2021 Cancún holiday controversy – the incident that one pollster predicted could hurt his chances for re-election in 2024.

Cruz, a former Donald Trump foe who has become a fixture in the MAGA crowd, has come under particular pressure for embracing Trump's claims of election interference, which has been blamed for fueling the Capitol riots.

“You can’t be for the Jan. 6 mob and for the officers. That’s not possible,” Allred said as the candidates stared at each other.

Cruz responded with a laugh, a reaction that prompted Allred to comment that his comments were “not funny.”

“You are a threat to democracy,” the Democrat added, leaving the senator staring at the floor.

Allred spoke of the moment he was attending the joint session of Congress certifying the 2020 election results when the Capitol was stormed by pro-Trump rioters seeking to overturn the former president's loss to President Joe Biden.

“I was in the House when we went through the votes. I remember when you objected to the results in Arizona,” Allred recalls.

That day, Cruz shared his “objections” to the election results in Arizona. His actions led to calls for his resignation ahead of the 2024 Republican presidential primary in January.

Continuing his sharp criticism, Allred added, “On January 6th, when a mob stormed the Capitol, he hid a supply closet,” an incident that Cruz himself wrote about in his 2022 book: Justice corrupts.

Allred also addressed Cruz's controversial trip to Cancun, where the senator left his state in the middle of a winter storm that killed 246 Texans and left millions without power and running water in February 2021.

The scandal, which earned the senator the nickname “Cancún Cruz,” intensified as Cruz tried to justify his actions by claiming he was just trying to be “a good father” to his daughters.

“When the lights went out in the energy capital of the world, he went to Cancún,” Allred added.

The debate comes as Allred appears to be hot on Cruz's heels and the gap between candidates for the seat in the traditionally red stronghold narrows.

Cruz, seeking to retain his seat for the third straight term, is still expected to be narrowly ahead in the race, although Allred says he has narrowed the gap to just 2.8 percent The Hill'S Opinion poll.

If he wins, Allred, a former NFL linebacker, would be the first Democrat elected to statewide office in Texas since 1994.

The race could be crucial in determining which party controls the upper chamber.

Democrats currently hold a two-seat lead over Republicans in the Senate – 51 to 49 – thanks to the four independents who caucus with them.

But pollsters have warned that some crucial elections could tip the Senate majority into Republican hands. Jon Tester's Democratic Senate seat in Montana looks set to lose, while Republican Sen. Rick Scott has opened up a big lead over his Democratic challenger, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.