Trump Rally in Texas Turns Violent as Supporter Grabs Protester by the Hair; At Least 10 Hecklers Ejected or Walk Out

A Donald Trump rally in Texas turned violent on Wednesday night when a supporter grabbed a heckler by the hair as he left the arena, the first of at least 10 protesters who were ejected or walked out during the president's speech.

Trump was less than 10 minutes into his remarks at San Antonio's Freeman Coliseum on 7 October, where he was campaigning for Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton and congressional candidate Carlos De La Cruz.

How the Hair-Grab Unfolded

The first protester shouted from near the stage, and Trump stepped briefly away from the microphone. The man then walked off through the crowd towards an exit, still yelling and filming on his phone as attendees booed.

C-SPAN footage shows an older man in what appeared to be a red Make America Great Again cap running up behind him, grabbing his collar and appearing to pull him down by the hair. Other rallygoers hauled the older man away, and the protester carried on out of the arena.

From the podium, Trump asked the crowd, 'Is there anything like a Trump rally?' Once the man had gone, he added, 'He's going back home to mom,' before saying the man's mother had voted for Trump.

Neither remark addressed the grab itself, and neither man has been publicly identified. Local police and the US Secret Service had not commented at the time of writing, and it was unclear whether anyone would face charges.

At Least 10 Removed as Disruptions Continue

More protesters followed over the next hour. Several were led out by police or security, at least one was handcuffed, and others left on their own. Some encounters turned physical, with shoving and kicking in the stands.

Trump talked over them at first, then turned to mockery. Without offering evidence, he told the audience, 'I'm telling you, they pay them for this.' Of one protester, he said, 'That guy's got to lose a lot of weight.' As more were led away, he added, 'Those are really bad-looking people.'

A Senate Race Republicans Did Not Expect to Fight

The visit was Trump's third to Texas in under a month. He won the state by almost 14 points in 2024, but low approval ratings, the Iran war, and rising fuel prices have put it in play, with Republicans committing more than $300 million (about £224 million) to races there.

Paxton, the state attorney general, ousted Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary with Trump's endorsement. Most polls now show him level with Democratic state Representative James Talarico or narrowly behind, in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988.

Governor Greg Abbott, locked in his own competitive re-election race, skipped the rally for a hospital dedication about 330 miles away. A Texas Democratic Party spokesperson said that 'suddenly Greg Abbott has somewhere else to be.'

What Else Trump Told the Crowd

Across a speech of nearly two hours, Trump called Paxton 'perhaps the greatest attorney general in the United States of America' but spent far more time on Talarico, whom he repeatedly called 'Tala-freako'. A Talarico win, he warned, would make Texas a 'dirty, failing, crime-ridden third-world dumping ground.' He did not mention a leaked recording in which Paxton lamented the Iran war and fuel prices.

He revisited Monday's rally in Nebraska, where his suggestion that Iran could 'take out' Los Angeles or San Diego drew criticism from California officials. 'Let them hit San Diego, let them hit Los Angeles,' he said. 'We're not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country.'

Trump backed the death penalty for 'large scale drug dealers, human traffickers, and anyone who kills a police officer,' and said Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in 2009, would face a firing squad, a method he approved this week and suggested Talarico opposes.

He then brought retired pitcher Roger Clemens on stage to announce he would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling it 'a step up' from baseball's Hall of Fame, which has not admitted Clemens amid performance-enhancing drug allegations. Paxton closed the night at Trump's side, telling him, 'I am so grateful that you're here.'