When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) returned to Texas on Thursday after an abrupt trip to Mexico amidst devastating winter weather in his home state, he faced protesters who were at the airport and outside of his house. Cruz attracted outrage over his trip, which he originally claimed was merely for him to accompany his kids for the journey. He eventually acknowledged that he originally planned to stay in Mexico beyond Thursday, even as millions of his constituents suffered through deadly sub-freezing conditions and widespread power outages that seriously compounded the crisis. He called the trip a “mistake,” but the damage was done.
Politico Playbook: At the Houston airport, protesters held up signs dragging Cruz ('24 dead Ted!'). At his home, more protesters had camped out with their own signs ('TWO SUITCASES FOR ONE NIGHT?' 'Did your kids also make you COMMIT TREASON?').
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 19, 2021
At the Houston airport, one protester held a sign noting that 24 Texans had died amidst the weather crisis. Meanwhile, outside of Cruz’s house, protesters held a large message that simply read “Resign” in big red letters, while other signs referred to the Senator as “Cancun Cruz” and mockingly asked, “Did your kids also make you commit treason?” At his house, protesters also chanted “Resign!” as Cruz spoke to the media nearby. Check out some footage below:
Protesters await Sen. Ted Cruz's arrival at his Texas home. pic.twitter.com/9eHPlUGBqC
— The Recount (@therecount) February 18, 2021
Sen. Ted Cruz, back in Texas, says it was "obviously a mistake" to go to Cancun.
You can hear protestors chanting "Resign!" in the background. pic.twitter.com/FwA6Dsg4fv
— The Recount (@therecount) February 19, 2021
As for that “treason” reference, Cruz has faced steep criticism over his support of an objection to the certification of some of Joe Biden’s electoral votes during Congressional proceedings to formally confirm the election results. On the day of those proceedings, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building and attempted to forcibly stop the certification of Biden’s election victory, and even after this deadly violence, Cruz voted against the certification of some of Biden’s electoral votes and thereby again furthered the lie that the presidential election outcome is worth skepticism. In reality, the results underwent rigorous security screening in every single state and at every meaningful level, and no court ever accepted the idea that there was some kind of systematic fraud problem.
In the wake of both his support of the objection to Biden’s electoral votes and his trip to Mexico, Cruz has faced calls for his resignation from interests like the Houston Chronicle, which is a leading Texas newspaper, and the Texas Democratic Party.
