Ted Cruz
© Nicholas KammTexas Senator Ted Cruz
As millions of Texas residents braved freezing conditions without power and safe drinking water on Wednesday after winter storms hit the state, Texas Senator Ted Cruz flew to Mexico, prompting significant criticism.

The Associated Press, citing a person with direct knowledge of the trip who spoke on the condition of anonymity, reported that Cruz left for a planned family vacation to Cancún but was expected to return to Texas. Fox News and CNN also confirmed the trip after photos of Cruz and his family at an airport began circulating on Twitter Wednesday night.

In a statement to reporters, Cruz confirmed the trip and said he went with his daughters while acknowledging it has been "an infuriating week for Texans. With school cancelled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon," he said.

Jodi Silva, a Houston Police Department spokeswoman, told The New York Times that a member of Cruz's staff contacted officials at the city's George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Wednesday afternoon to request assistance.

Cruz has been posting updates on storm conditions from the weather service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in recent days, and in a tweet Wednesday morning, he encouraged residents to "stay safe" and "continue to follow the warnings and updates provided by state and local officials."

Democrats in Texas were baffled by reports of Cruz's trip, which came after multiple people had died in the state, millions were told to boil tap water before drinking it, Texas' governor ordered residents to shut off water to their homes if they could, and some Texans were resorting to dangerous measures to keep themselves and their families warm.

Among the criticisms of Cruz's trip issued by the Twitter account of the Texas Democratic Party were calls for him to resign.

Former Texas Representative Beto O'Rourke, who narrowly lost to Cruz in the race to represent the state in the Senate in 2018, spoke out about reports of Cruz's vacation Thursday morning. O'Rourke said in an interview with MSNBC:
"Unless we hold those responsible accountable for what they did, and yes, that means Donald Trump, but it also means the junior senator from the state of Texas, who I understand is vacationing in Cancún right now when people are literally freezing to death in the state that he was elected to represent and serve."

In a stark contrast to Cruz's response to the crisis, O'Rourke has been working to aid seniors in the state, holding a phone banking effort Wednesday night to check on older residents, with another planned for Thursday afternoon. O'Rourke tweeted early Thursday morning that volunteers had made more than 150,000 calls to seniors in the state.

Julián Castro, former San Antonio mayor and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said in a tweet Thursday morning that Cruz "should be on the phone with federal agencies, not on a trip to Mexico."

Gene Wu, a Democrat who serves in the Texas House of Representatives, said Cruz's trip was "on-brand."


Luke Russert, son of the late Meet the Press host Tim Russert, took to Twitter to share how New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whom his father worked for in 1977, responded when a massive blizzard hit Buffalo. Russert said he was describing Moynihan's role to debunk claims that federal officials couldn't be helpful during a state crisis.

"People are dying and the Senator who represents 30 million wants to slam all inclusive margaritas in a foreign country during a pandemic," he concluded. "Enough!"

On Thursday morning, more than 500,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity, down from about 3 million on Wednesday. But freezing conditions are expected to continue in the coming days, with the National Weather Service warning of a major storm that is expected to bring freezing rain and snow.