Democrat Mocks Former Bungie Composer Marty O'Donnell With Halo Monk Chant Tweet After U.S. Midterm Elections Victory

Republican Marty O'Donnell has lost his bid for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District at the U.S. midterm elections despite a last-minute endorsement from Donald Trump, putting his political future in doubt. O'Donnell is best-known to gamers as the composer of the original Halo games and Destiny at Bungie, but following his retirement from video games, he launched a career in politics and a bid for Congress. This year, O'Donnell launched a campaign to — with Trump’s support — unseat Nevada's 3rd Congressional District Democrat incumbent Susie Lee. Unfortunately for O'Donnell, he lost the vote 38.6% to Lee’s 59.1%. The result came hot on the heels of a tweet endorsement from Trump himself, in which the President called O’Donnell an “America First Patriot.”

Following the win, Lee tagged O'Donnell in a tweet which declared: “Enjoy your retirement.” The tweet includes a video of Halo fans singing the iconic monk chant from the game, with O'Donnell’s tweet, “Well, I never wanted to be a politician and now I don’t have to be. Yay!” from 2024 overlaid. That 2024 tweet followed a similarly bruising political failure at the same Congressional seat, which touches parts of Las Vegas.

O’Donnell, clearly upset by Lee’s tweet, responded: “Susie has a lot of class. And it’s all low.”

What went wrong for O’Donnell this time? Apart from the midterm results being disastrous overall for the Republicans due to what is a clear rejection of Trump’s recent policies, Trump’s tariffs have hit O’Donnell's district hard, with Canadian tourism to Sin City down by 17%. Collaborating with Michael Salvatori, O'Donnell composed the score of numerous Bungie games, from 1997's Myth to the classic sounds of Halo: Combat Evolved, in a lengthy tenure that ended with his work for 2014's Destiny. Recent years have seen O'Donnell demonstrate an increasing interest in politics, after a lengthy period spent establishing his own game development studio, Highwire Games.