Much of Texas has been weathering from days of harsh winter weather, snow, ice, and freezing rain since a major winter storm hit the region beginning on Feb. 15, battering the state’s power grid and leaving millions without power or water. Meanwhile, as Texas recovers from the winter storms, Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, was spotted on a plane heading to Cancún, Mexico, on Thursday.
A major winter storm hit Texas and Oklahoma on Feb. 14 and 15, dumping large amounts of snow onto the region and bring record-cold temperatures to the state. Houston recorded a record 6 inches of snow earlier this week, and Dallas saw the coldest temperature recorded since 1930 at minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
Texas’s deregulated power grid, which covers much of the state and is disconnected from the rest of North America’s power grids, was ill-prepared for the winter weather. Icy power lines collapsed and huge strain on the power grid caused widespread outages all across the state. Water services were also cut off in many areas, as water in pipes froze and burst. As of Feb. 18, over 13 million people were under boil-water advisories, which suggested all drinking water be boiled in case of possible contamination.
The state, which was unprepared for cold weather, lacked snow plows and other equipment to quickly clear icy highways of snow and ice. The lack of preparedness from Texas officials was on full show in the town of Texarkana, Texas, which is virtually located on the Arkansas border. While Arkansas had snow plows and was able to plow one side of a street that ran along the border, Texas lacked the equipment to plow the street, leaving half the street covered in snow and ice.
As of Friday, the storms had caused over 30 deaths in Texas and at least 4 million households to lose power in Texas.
While many Texans are still weathering the effects of the deadly unprecedented winter storm, Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, decided to go on a vacation to Cancún, Mexico, where it was well over 80 degrees Fahrenheit compared to the low 30s back in his home in Texas. He was pictured abroad on a plane bound for the popular Mexican vacation spot Wednesday.
Photos of Cruz and his wife, Heidi, boarding the plane spread quickly across social media on the internet, prompting outrage as they went on a tropical vacation while a disaster unfolded in his home state.
The outrage was increased after he said in a statement a few hours after pictures of him on the flight were posted on Twitter. that he was simply trying to be a “good dad” because he wanted to accompany his girls who had asked to go on a vacation “with school canceled for the week.” He then said he would fly back Thursday afternoon, though he didn’t say how long he intended to stay.
However, private texts obtained by The New York Times proved a different story. Texts among a group of Cruz’s neighbors show Heidi annoyed at the outage in their house and inviting people to join them to Cancún. “Our house is FREEZING,” Heidi wrote in the group, saying that they “couldn’t stand it anymore” and shared information to flights to Cancún from Houston departing on Wednesday and returning on Sunday, and information about the Ritz-Carlton there, which charged $309 a night. From this, it could be reasonably inferred that if Cruz was not seen and called out for the trip, he was expecting to stay in the Mexican town for at least a few days.
Cruz tried to offer a different tone when he spoke to reporters on Thursday night after returning to his Houston home. “I started having second thoughts almost the moment I sat down on the plane, because on the one hand, all of us who are parents have a responsibility to take care of our kids, take care of our family. That’s something Texans have been doing across the state,” said Cruz. He conceded that the trip was “obviously a mistake” and that he had planned to “stay through the weekend with the family.”
Critics of Cruz immediately sprung to action after hearing of the news, and hashtags like #FlyInTed, #FledCruz, and more circulated on social media. Texas state Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat, called Cruz out and criticized him for fleeing “while the state was freezing to death and having to boil water.”
Although federal officials like Cruz don’t act as firsthand responders in a crisis like this, it is customary for elected officials to help constituents to find resources and other emergency needs. Especially in times of crisis, elected officials are expected to help bring the community together and help everyone out. Even if Cruz didn’t have an on-the-ground response role, he could have helped out in shelters or handed out food and water to the needy, like what many members of Congress did after the devastating Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a mass shooting, etc.
This trip is likely to have far-reaching impacts on Cruz. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat who came just three percent away from beating Cruz in his 2018 reelection bid, announced on Twitter that he and his team had called over 750,000 seniors to check in on them and provide the necessary help. O’Rourke could possibly challenge Cruz again when Cruz will be up for reelection in 2024. It could also greatly affect any presidential aspirations Cruz may have, as critics are sure to use the trip to frame him as a person who does not care about his constituents. Texas Democrats are likely to constantly remind people and aggressively attack Cruz for the trip. The Texas Democratic Party called on Cruz to resign. “Cruz is emblematic of what the Texas Republican Party and its leaders have become: weak, corrupt, inept, and self-serving politicians who don’t give a damn about the people they were elected to represent,” the party’s chair said in a statement.
The No Excuses PAC, a political action committee, has announced a five-figure radio ad buy-in which harshly denounces Cruz and will air on all of Texas’s 147 radio stations.
Cruz had previously attacked other elected officials for vacationing during crises. Last December, Cruz had attacked Austin Mayor Steve Adler, a Democrat, for visiting Cabo, Mexico, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He had also attacked former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, back in 2017 for visiting a beach that was shut due to a state government shutdown.