Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) retained his seat in Tuesday’s midterms following a challenge from Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke. And as the results came in, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow noted how Cruz made the most of his “repellent personality” on the campaign trail.

“Ted Cruz knows that everybody hates him,” Maddow noted, adding he has “never campaigned as a politician on being a guy who you’d like to be around.”

“He has campaigned as a sort of world wrestling villain, right? Like, your hate makes me stronger. So we’re all talking then like that’s a weakness. Ted Cruz knows that he has a repellent personality. He has just turned it to his advantage,” she added.

Check out the clip here: