A heckler interrupted Senator Ted Cruz as he gave a speech alongside the “People’s Convoy” trucker protesters who’ve been circling Washington DC to protest Covid mandates.

       Midway through the Texas Republican’s remarks about the Covid Chinese lab leak theory, a member of the crowd shouted, “Ted Cruz sucks!” eliciting chuckles from even the truckers alongside Mr Cruz.

       “God bless you,” the senator responded.

       Mr Cruz continued his vocal support of the convoy movement, which seeks an end to remaining Covid mandates, appearing at the group’s staging grounds at the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland.

       Once there, Mr Cruz rode around in the front seat of a truck, waving to supporters.

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       "Your voice is being heard," he told the assembled crowd. "What the men and women want here is for the government to leave you the hell alone ... That is the most American sentiment you could imagine."

       “There ain’t no ignoring a senator riding in the lead truck,” movement organiser Brian Brase said of the gesture, according to The Washington Post. “That’s basically an endorsement of what we’re doing.”

       The People’s Convoy, inspired by the Canadian trucker protests that seized Ottawa for days, says it wants an end to vaccine mandates for health workers, federal employees, and military personnel.

       Outside of those specific fields, the federal government hasn’t been able to get its broader goals of vaccine mandates for private employers through the courts, and many states have been backing away from tight Covid restrictions.

       In other GOP-controlled states, like Texas, vaccine mandates for Covid themselves are illegal.

       The appearance on Thursday follows a meeting between Mr Cruz, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and the convoy demonstrators on Wednesday.

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       Washington-area police have declared a state of emergency over the convoy, which has been circling the Capital Beltway for days, honking and slowing traffic, but hasn’t attracted the thousands of supporters their Canadian partners did.

       Earlier this week, the People’s Convoy said it intends to be a “peaceful and unified transcontinental movement.”