Senator Ted Cruz flew with his family to Cancun, Mexico, this week on a trip as Texas faces the aftermath of a winter storm that left millions without power. An aviation industry source familiar with the situation told CBS News that the Republican senator was scheduled to fly home Saturday, but changed his reservation and flew home Thursday afternoon.
Photos of Cruz arriving at the airport for the trip went viral on social media, sparking criticism of the senator for leaving during the crisis. Cruz said on Thursday that he wanted to accompany his children who were traveling with friends.
“Since the school was canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Because I wanted to be a good dad, I flew with them last night and fly back this afternoon,” Cruz said in a statement.
However, a source with knowledge of the trip said that Cruz and his family were originally booked to return to Houston on a Saturday, but changed the reservation on Thursday morning. Cruz returned to Houston on Thursday afternoon. His wife and children will return Saturday as scheduled, the source said.
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Earlier Thursday, Cruz said he was “in constant communication” with local leaders “to get to the bottom of” the Texas power outage. “The largest state in the largest country in the world has had no power. We have food lines, gas lines and people sleeping next door. Our houses are freezing and our lights are out. Like millions of Texans, our family has lost heat and strength too . “
At least 34 deaths were attributed to the storm, 20 of the victims were from Texas. The widespread power outage left more than 3 million people without power this week, although most had recovered. More than 350,000 residents were without electricity on Thursday afternoon.
Some of Cruz’s political opponents have called for him to resign.
“Ted Cruz flying to Mexico while Texans die in the cold is not surprising, but it is deeply disturbing and disappointing,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party. “We are in a battle for the soul of our state. We need to restore ethics, competence and a government that works for the people.”
Justin Carissimo and Alan He contributed to this report.