![]() ![]() ![]() No one appeared to bite, but Heidi Cruz did extend a more practical offer. Seriously.” Heidi Cruz promptly shared details for a Wednesday afternoon departure, a Sunday return trip and a luxurious stay at the oceanfront Ritz-Carlton in the meantime. “We may go to Cancún.” She teased a “direct flight” and “hotels w capacity. “Anyone can or want to leave for the week?” she wrote. When Heidi Cruz wrote to the group text chain of neighbors trying to weather the extreme conditions early Wednesday, she said the family had been staying with friends to keep warm, but quickly pivoted to offering an invitation to get away. (Separately, an aide to Cruz said he had taken a virus test before his return flight Thursday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requires a negative result.) Two parents provided a copy of the written school policy for students not to return to classrooms for seven days after international travel, or to take a COVID test three to five days after returning, which would keep the Cruz children out of school for the following week. But some other parents at the school were incensed when they heard about his international trip because of the pandemic and school policies that have discouraged such travel abroad. In his statement, Cruz noted that the private school his daughters attend in Houston was closed this week. “This has been an infuriating week for Texans,” he said. Officers were seen accompanying him upon his Thursday return.Ĭruz insisted in his statement Thursday that he and his staff had been “in constant communication” with state and local leaders during his brief Cancún trip. Silva said the police had “monitored his movements” before he departed. While the city of Houston was gripped by the freezing weather Wednesday, a member of Cruz’s staff contacted personnel with the Houston Police Department at George Bush Intercontinental Airport before his flight requesting “assistance upon arrival,” according to Jodi Silva, a department spokeswoman. In that race, Cruz had aggressively highlighted his efforts during a past emergency, Hurricane Harvey. While a senator cannot personally restore the power grid, Sullivan said, “people expect their elected officials to be fully engaged during a crisis.”Ĭruz, 50, narrowly won reelection in 2018 against Beto O’Rourke, a Democratic former congressman, carrying less than 51% of the vote. “It was clearly an error in judgment,” said Ray Sullivan, an Austin-based Republican strategist who served as chief of staff to former Gov. ![]() Ted Cruz’s decision to leave his state in the middle of an emergency was an especially confounding one for an ambitious politician who has already run for president once and is widely seen as wanting to run again in 2024 or beyond. NBC reported separately that Ted Cruz had rebooked his return ticket Thursday morning. If Cruz intended to leave the impression that he meant to stay for only a day, his large suitcase and the group text messages Heidi Cruz had sent planning a longer itinerary suggested he had cut his trip short. Hinojosa said he was shocked but not surprised by Cruz’s international excursion: “He’s a politician that really has never cared much about anybody but himself.” “This is about as callous as any politician can get,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, the Texas Democratic Party chairman. Some Democratic groups sought to fundraise off the episode, and the state Democratic Party renewed its calls for Cruz’s resignation. He was wearing a Texas state flag mask and a short-sleeved polo shirt tucked into his jeans the temperature in Cancún was above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 degrees Celsius) on Thursday, and in the 30s in Houston.Ĭruz’s critics quickly circulated hashtags mocking his trip: #FlyinTed, a play on former President Donald Trump’s derisive nickname for Cruz during the 2016 primary race, and #FledCruz, among them. “What’s happening in Texas is unacceptable,” Ted Cruz told a television crew at the Cancún airport.
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