Texas Democrats are calling on Ted Cruz to resign after the senator was seen jetting off to Cancun while millions in his state are struggling without water and electricity. As reported by REVOLT, a purported photo of Cruz and his family at the Houston International Airport went viral last night (Feb. 17), appearing to show the politician traveling to Mexico.
On Thursday (Feb. 18), it was confirmed that Cruz and his family flew to Cancun for a vacation amidst Texas’ historic winter storm. State legislators are now demanding accountability.
“The Texas Democratic Party calls on Ted Cruz to resign or be expelled from office,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement.
“Barring that, we will put all of the resources we have into defeating him and every Texas Republican who abandoned us in this disaster, including Gov. [Greg] Abbott and Lt. Gov. [Dan] Patrick, in 2022 and 2024,” he continued.
Hinojosa also called Cruz’s actions “disturbing and disappointing” and chastised him for “jetting off to Mexico while Texans remain dying in the cold.”
“We are in a battle for the soul of our state,” he added. “We must restore ethics, competence and a government that works for the people.”
Over 30 people have died as of Thursday due to the unprecedented winter storm and many remain without power. NPR reports that around 7 million residents in the Houston, Arlington, Fort Worth and Tyler areas have been ordered to boil their drinking water as a lack of electricity and pipe breaks have forced water treatment plants to close across the state.
Mansfield Mayor Michael Evans described the situation to the outlet as “life or death.”
“We have been caught in the middle of something here where there have been individuals who have not had electricity or power for about three and a half days now [and] it’s zero degrees,” he said.