(Iowa) -- A town hall held by U.S. Senator Joni Ernst went viral this week after a woman claimed that eligibility changes to Medicaid would result in people dying.

During the town hall in Parkersburg, a person yelled "people are going to die" while Ernst discussed potential cuts to SNAP benefits, Medicare, and Medicaid in President Trump's proposed budget bill. Ernst was widely criticized for responding, "Well, we are all going to die."

"It was political theatre, and all those people who were there to disrupt and call names, they weren't there to allow other people the opportunity to hear from me, for me to answer their questions," said Ernst on the WHO Morning Show with Jeff Angelo.

The town hall attendee who sparked the viral moment, India May, is a registered nurse and death investigator out of Charles City. May announced she is vying for the District 58 seat to represent all of Chickasaw, and parts of Floyd and Bremer Counties. She tells WHO Radio News the town hall meeting had an effect on when she announced her campaign.

"Well I had been planning to run for the [Iowa] House for about a month, I already had everything in place to do it, but I was going to wait a few more weeks to announce. I honestly did not anticipate this moment in the town hall to go viral, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to share this message with as many people as possible," said May.

Ernst issued an apology on Instagram following the town hall and said, "I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the audience understood that yes we are all going to perish from this earth someday, so I apologize and I'm really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well."

Ernst received even more criticism for issuing the apology, which some claim was insincere. But she says she doesn't regret her initial response or her follow-up.

"I don't regret it, there has been an awful lot of pushback and of course there's always this bin and I anticipated that. I appreciate that we have Medicaid there and available for those that need, but what I was also trying to communicate was that there is a lot of fraud, waste and abuse within the system," said Ernst.

The viral moment inspired Des Moines-based company Raygun to release shirts about the town hall, several of which feature Ernst's quote. The company has a history of releasing political t-shirts and creating designs around current events. Raygun tells WHO Radio News that one shirt includes a design featuring the Welcome to Iowa billboard logo, but replaced the "Fields of Opportunities" slogan with the phrase "We Will All Die" underneath.

"I think our brains kind of just naturally turn it into like what are people taking away from this event that they may want to broadcast on a shirt. There are just some things that we decide we are going to put everything else to the side and focus on this right now, it makes it really cool, makes it move just as quickly as the news," said Alyx Rice of Raygun.

Both Ernst and May will be on ballots in Iowa next year. Ernst says she will continue to fight for changes in Medicaid to reduce fraud, waste and abuse, while May believes the current proposals put people at risk.

Lucy Chapman