The Houston debate audience erupted in applause Thursday evening when former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenFormer Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick Bloomberg rolls out M ad buy to boost Biden in Florida MORE praised former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D-Texas) response to the August mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.

“The way he handled what happened in his hometown is meaningful,” Biden said about O’Rourke during the Democratic presidential debate in Houston. “To look in the eyes of those people, to see those kids, to understand those parents, to understand the heartache, we are ready to do this.”

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Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro also commended O’Rourke, whose congressional district included El Paso.

“I want to commend Beto for how well he has spoken to the passion and the frustration and the sadness after what happened in his hometown of El Paso,” said Castro. “He's done a great job with that.”

Sen. Kamala Harris Kamala HarrisTexas Democratic official urges Biden to visit state: 'I thought he had his own plane' The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden on Trump: 'He'll leave' l GOP laywers brush off Trump's election remarks l Obama's endorsements A game theorist's advice to President Trump on filling the Supreme Court seat MORE (D-Calif.) chimed in during the debate by saying, “God love you,” to praise O’Rourke for his response in El Paso.

Following the recent mass shooting when a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border, the former Texas representative visited El Paso to visit with victims’ families.