Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R) wife invited a number of friends and neighbors to join them on a last-minute Cancun getaway this week as winter weather left millions without power in the Lone Star State.
In group messages obtained by The New York Times, Heidi Cruz stated that her house was “FREEZING” and invited an unspecified number of people to join her family for a trip to the Mexican vacation spot until Sunday.
The messages, which were verified by a second, unnamed person in the thread, invited the friends to join them at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun and noted the room price this week at $309 per night. She added that her family has stayed there “many times.”
Cruz’s trip Thursday, which he later cut short, was sharply criticized on social media due to the timing, which came as many in his home state were struggling without power, heat and potable water in freezing temperatures.
Cruz’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Times regarding the text messages.
The Hill has reached out to the senator’s office for comment as well.
In remarks to reporters Thursday while he was heading back to the United States, Cruz addressed the reason for the trip, stating that his daughters wanted to “take a trip with some friends.”
“Yesterday my daughters asked if they could take a trip with some friends, and Heidi and I agreed, so I flew down with them last night, dropped them off here and now I’m headed back to Texas,” he told reporters.
“It was obviously a mistake and in hindsight I wouldn’t have done it,” he added at a press conference outside his home.
His decision to leave the state for Cancun was sharply criticized by state Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa, who called it as “callous as any politician can get” in a statement to the Times.
“He’s a politician that really has never cared much about anybody but himself,” Hinojosa told the Times.
The Hill
