Cruz said he visited Mexico to drop off his daughters and was flying home Thursday. He said he originally planned to remain through the weekend.
WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told reporters Thursday his decision to travel on a family vacation to Cancún, Mexico, as Texans suffer without heat, water, and power due to a historic winter storm was "a mistake" that he now regrets.
"It was an error, and in hindsight, I would not have done it," Cruz said outside his home after having returned to Houston, where he was greeted by protesters chanting, "Resign."
"I understand why people are upset," Cruz said. He said that he was trying to form his daughters happy by going with them on the trip but that "leaving when numerous Texans were hurting didn't feel right, then I changed my return flight and flew back on the primary available flight."
News of Cruz's trip emerged Wednesday night as pictures of him and his family as they waited at an airport gate with luggage and boarded a plane began circulating on social media.
After Cruz's Senate office didn't answer repeated requests for comment Thursday, Cruz released a press release explaining his decision to go away from the state and said he was returning home Thursday afternoon. He said that it's an "infuriating week for Texans" which his family had "lost heat and power, too."
"With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to require a visit with friends," the statement said. "Wanting to be an honest dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon. My staff and that I am in constant communication with state and native leaders to urge to the rock bottom of what happened in Texas.
"We want our power back, our water on, and our homes warm. My team and that I will continue using all our resources to stay Texans informed and safe," he added.
Cruz gave an account almost like his statement when NBC News encountered him at the airport in Cancún on Thursday before his return flight, suggesting that he had just gone to drop his daughters off.
"We had no heat and no power, and yesterday my daughters asked if they might take a visit with some friends, and Heidi and that I agreed, so I flew down with them last night and dropped them off here, and now I'm headed back to Texas and back continuing to figure to urge the facility back on," Cruz said.
A source with knowledge of things said that Cruz was initially booked to return home Saturday which he booked his round-trip ticket at 6 a.m. Thursday.
After he returned home, Cruz acknowledged that he had planned to remain through the weekend, but he said he had second thoughts after he got on the plane.
"I began second-guessing that call and saying, look, I do know why we're doing this, but I've also got responsibilities, and I had intended to figure remotely, to get on the phone, get on the internet, to get on Zoom, to be engaged. But I needed to be here, and that is why I came back," he said.
Cruz acknowledged that the furious attention on social media also played a task.
"As it became a much bigger and larger firestorm, it became all the more compelling that I come," he said. "I didn't want all the screaming and yelling about this trip to distract even one moment from the important issues Texans care about, which is keeping all of our families safe."
He said that he would have come earlier within the day but that he couldn't get on an earlier flight "because the present restrictions require a Covid test, so I had to urge a Covid test this morning before I could get on a flight back."
He ended his press conference by telling reporters to "stay warm."
In an interview with KTRK-TV of Houston, Cruz was asked about the outrage in Texas. "In hindsight, if I understood how it might be perceived, the reaction people would have, obviously I would not have done it," he said.
Before Cruz released his initial statement, the Houston local department confirmed that Cruz's staff asked it Wednesday afternoon to help him in his arrival and movements through Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
"They reached bent us, allow us to know that he was getting to be arriving and will we assist, so upon his arrival to the Houston airport we monitored his movements," a local department spokesperson told NBC News.
Democrats were outraged, as many people across Texas are struggling without power and warmth and have suffered water system disruptions for several days in record low temperatures.
The state Democratic Party called on Cruz to resign from Congress, tweeting, "Texans are dying and you're on a flight to Cancun. #TedCruzRESIGN." It also sought to boost money for struggling Texans with an internet site called "FlyinTedCruz.com." The name may be a play on former President Donald Trump's "Lyin' Ted" nickname for Cruz once they ran against one another within the 2016 Republican presidential primaries.
Galveston Mayor Craig Brown suggested that Cruz was out of touch, telling MSNBC: "It's a response to me of somebody who did not have to experience this. If he was within the midst of this and he was experiencing this, I feel there would be a special attitude."
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., tweeted Thursday, "It must be easy to not believe global climate change if you'll just leave many Texans suffering without power or water to take a seat on a beach in Cancún."
Robert Mann, who was communications director to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco during Hurricane Katrina, said he couldn't consider anyone as prominent as Cruz who had left his state after a disaster struck.
"This is typically the time that elected officials want to point out their constituents what proportion they're committed to helping them," said Mann, who is now a journalism professor at Louisiana State University. "It defies all common and political sense to go away the state for anywhere at a time like this, much less take a vacation to a toasty, warm spot like Cancún. It's among the dumbest, most callous things I've ever seen an official do."
In a radio interview with "The Joe Pags Show" on Monday, Cruz urged his fellow Texans to remain put.
"This storm is dangerous, and there is a second storm expected to hit in the week, which can make things even worse, so if you'll, stay home. Don't leave on the roads. Don't risk the ice," Cruz said. "I was speaking this weekend with a meteorologist expert who was saying [with] the mixture of those two storms, we could see up to 100 people lose their lives in the week in Texas. So don't risk it. Keep your family safe, and just stay home and hug your kids," he said.
In early December, Cruz tweeted a video clip of a CNN segment about how Democratic officials had been caught not following their guidelines when it came to Covid-19. Cruz called them "hypocrites — complete and utter hypocrites."
He said during a tweet to not forget that Austin Mayor Steve Adler "took a personal jet with eight people to Cabo and WHILE IN CABO recorded a video telling Austinites to 'stay home if you'll ... this is often not the time to relax.
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