Cruz "promptly" returned from vacation amid Texas flooding, his office says
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a news briefing in Kerrville, Texas, on July 7. Photo: Jorge Salgado/Anadolu via Getty Images
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was on a family vacation in Greece when deadly floods swept through central Texas — though his office said he flew home as quickly as possible, landing Sunday night.
Why it matters: Cruz critics still expressed deja vu over the moment. In 2021, the senator sparked outrage over his trip to Cancún, Mexico, amid an extreme winter storm that left his constituents without power.
- At the time, he told reporters his trip was "obviously a mistake."
Driving the news: Cruz was spotted Saturday evening local time (morning in Texas) in Greece on a visit to the Parthenon, The Daily Beast reported.
- "I get it, he's on vacation," a man who snapped a photo of Cruz and is openly critical of the senator's political beliefs told the Houston Chronicle. "But after what happened, vacation or not, you should have been back on a plane on his way back to Texas to deal with everything that was going on with those poor kids in the floodplain."
What they're saying: Cruz's office told Axios in a statement the senator was already in the middle of "preplanned family vacation travel overseas" when the floods began Friday, noting that "within hours," he spoke with Gov. Greg Abbott, President Trump and other state officials.
- That echoes what Cruz stated in a Monday briefing, when he said he told Trump on a phone call, "this appears to be bad, really bad."
- A spokesperson added that throughout that time, he and his team "worked closely with local officials and with families of missing girls" and said Cruz "promptly booked a flight back home."
- Given the time difference, they said, Cruz departed from Athens "on Sunday morning and was back in Texas that night" and was on the ground in hard-hit Kerrville on Monday.
Catch up quick: The flooding began early Friday as the Guadalupe River surged dramatically. The death toll, as of Tuesday, had surpassed 100 people.
- In Kerr County, officials have recovered 87 deceased individuals, including 30 children.
Zoom in: Cruz, speaking at a Monday news conference, offered his condolences to grieving families and applauded stories of local heroism.
- "For many of us, those are friends and neighbors who've lost children," he said.
- The senator continued, "Going through this grief, it is going to take love. It is going to take friends and family, embracing and hugging and holding them while they weep."
Go deeper: Texas state leaders didn't prioritize flood management
Editor's note: This story has been updated with the numbers of reported deceased individuals in Kerr County as of Tuesday morning.
