CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Beto O’Rourke has accused President Donald Trump countless times of enabling white supremacy for the way he handled a deadly clash involving neo-Nazis.

On Tuesday night, the El Paso Democrat became the first contender for president to campaign near the site of the August 2017 protest, where torch-wielding demonstrators waved swastika flags and chanted “Jews will not replace us” and other incendiary slogans.

As he did throughout his Senate candidacy and now, in his bid for the White House, O’Rourke condemned Trump for insisting that there were “many fine people” among those demonstrators.

A young man raised the issue of hate speech in the first question O’Rourke took from the crowd.

“Klansmen, Nazis, white supremacists — in his words, 'very fine people,’” O’Rourke said. “Asylum seekers are 'animals’ and an ‘infestation,’ which is the way I would describe cockroaches in my house. Not human beings. It’s a term you would expect to hear in the Third Reich in the 1930s.”

One woman was killed during the 2017 protest when an Ohio Nazi sympathizer rammed his car through a crowd of counterprotesters.

Later that day, Trump seemed to suggest a moral equivalence between hate groups and counterprotesters.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides,” he said from his golf resort in New Jersey.

The so-called alt-right movement took Trump’s comments as a wink of support. "He didn't attack us. He just said the nation should come together. Nothing specific against us," wrote Andrew Anglin, founder of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer.

Two days later, under growing pressure from Democrats and fellow Republicans, Trump tried again, saying on national TV: "Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”

That mollified his critics. But only a day later, he offered the comments that still echo, asserting that “there's blame on both sides” and that many "bad people" had turned out to oppose neo-Nazis.

“You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides,” he said, emphasizing that he was referring to peaceful, well-intentioned demonstrators who showed up only to express their opposition to the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate hero.

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O’Rourke’s event at the University of Virginia on Tuesday night drew roughly 600 people, mostly college students, though only about 250 managed to squeeze inside. He drew an enthusiastic welcome when he arrived more than a half-hour behind schedule.

O’Rourke urged the students to confront racism, even from the president.

“When you describe asylum seekers as animals and an infestation, you put kids in cages, and that’s exactly what this country did,” he said. Trump’s rhetoric, he said, “doesn’t just offend our sensibilities. It has the power of effectively changing the character, the practices, the policies of this country.”

Trump and his aides have insisted that he has referred only to MS-13 gang members and other dangerous criminals as “animals” or an infestation.

Andy McMahon, a junior from Belton, Texas, majoring in statistics and history, cheered O’Rourke for calling out Trump.

"You have to go after him. He didn't apologize for Nazis in this town. It's not right,” he said. The rhetoric, he said, was “shocking. ... You have actual neo-Nazis and hate groups marching and killing people.” That, he said, “is something you have to condemn.”

Austin Cox, a freshman studying business and art history who lived for three years in El Paso during a stint in the Army, called Trump’s response “grossly inappropriate. That being said, I think it is important to focus on the rebuilding aspects and focus on community engagement and building those bridges in the community and not so much focusing on the president's lack of response."

Jenna Goode, 21, a senior from northern Virginia majoring in politics, said Trump’s handling of the clash wasn’t her top priority as she picks a president. “That’s an easy target. I think saying, 'Trump's response is wrong' is pretty mainstream at this point."

Lizzie Weschler, a high school junior, wore a Beto skateboarding shirt and brought a Beto candle.

"I just think he is so fresh and the Democratic Party needs someone new,” she said. “We have a lot of people that have been here for a while and if they couldn't defeat Trump in 2016, then I don't think they are going to be able to do it now."

Todd J. Gillman reported from Washington. Matthew Adams reported from Charlottesville, Va.