10:21 AM PT -- Sen. Cruz just issued a statement about his Cancun trip, and says ... "With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon."
If Cruz is saying he went down to chaperone his kids for the flight, he didn't mention his wife was with them, and she could have done it. BTW, he was carrying a suitcase.
10:04 AM PT -- It's happening -- Ted "Cancun" Cruz is dragging his luggage to a flight back to Houston amid all the backlash he's receiving. We'll see if his constituents are happy to welcome him home.
7:25 AM PT -- Well, this is rich. Jake Sherman from Punchbowl is reporting Cruz is now on standby at the airport in Cancun trying to get an upgrade on a flight back to Houston, just hours after he landed. Seems the heat is getting to him ... and we're not talking temperature.
There's only one Texan who's warm right now, and that's Texas Senator Ted Cruz ... who bolted to Cancun with his family while millions in his state suffer.
Photos show the Republican Senator hanging out in the United Club lounge and boarding a flight to Mexico with his family ... an incredible sight as people are literally dying in Cruz's state just trying to stay warm.
But, it's true ... while millions of his fellow Texans are without power and water and are literally freezing during a winter ice storm, Ted's off to a Cancun resort for some fun in the sun.
Cruz was already facing criticism this week during the Texas power outages as a tweet resurfaced of him mocking California's "failed energy policies" when it experienced outages last August.
As for his own state's power outages, Cruz threw in the towel, tweeting ... "I got no defense. A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good. Stay safe!"
Ted might want to start working on a defense while he's poolside in Mexico.
Originally Published -- 6:51 AM PT