Associated Press Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas) speaks about an emergency funding bill at a Capitol Hill press conference with other members of the Texas congressional delegation in September 2017, after Hurricane Harvey devastated the Houston area.

Rep. Pete Olson, a Texas Republican in a tough re-election battle, would not explain to a constituent why he recently called his Democratic opponent an “Indo-American carpetbagger.”

In a video of an Oct. 23 campaign meet-and-greet obtained by HuffPost, Olson reminisced about a political rally President Donald Trump held in Texas, taking particular relish in the derision directed at the news media during the event.

“Out of nowhere Texans stood up and said, ‘CNN sucks, CNN sucks,’” Olson recalled, prompting laughs from his supporters. “Eighteen thousand voices chanting ’CNN sucks.’ It was awesome.”

After the laughter died down, a woman asked Olson, first elected to the House in 2008, why the chant was “awesome.”

“Because CNN sucks,” Olson responded, eliciting more guffaws from his supporters. “They’re liberal.”

Pressed by the voter on whether those shouts were appropriate, Olson shrugged. “Sometimes we have to have fun,” someone in attendance called out.

The unnamed constituent persisted with questions, asking Olson why he had called his Democratic challenger in the 22nd Congressional District, Sri Preston Kulkarni, an “Indo-American carpetbagger.”

In a video of a previous campaign stop obtained by CNN, Olson described Kulkarni, who is of Indian heritage, as a “liberal, liberal, liberal Indo-American who’s a carpetbagger” and questioned whether donations raised for him through the online fundraising site ActBlue were “coming from overseas.”

“Why would you mention his race?” the woman demanded.

“I didn’t mention his race. Carpetbagger’s not a race,” Olson responded. During an extended back and forth, Olson never directly addressed why he mentioned Kulkarni’s ethnicity.

A spokesperson for Olson’s campaign did not respond to a HuffPost request for comment.

Here’s video of the interaction, which begins a little after the seven-minute mark: