Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) countered a slam from the Texas Democratic Party criticizing him for leaving the state to attend the Republican National Convention in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
He took a shot at the Democratic challenger in his Senate race, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “It took Can’t Comment Colin 5 days to visit Houston,” a Cruz spokesman said. “Texas Dems should check their own nominee before they try to be relevant.”
The Texas Democratic Party also slammed Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for traveling to the convention as well.
“Hurricane Beryl’s aftermath has resulted in death, boil water notices, makeshift hospitals and devastating property damage — leaving millions without power during an extreme heat advisory,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. “Our state’s leaders should not be jetting off to applaud Donald Trump while Texans are still suffering. The Texas Democratic Party calls on Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and Ted Cruz to skip the Republican National Convention, and prioritize mitigating Beryl’s aftermath.”
All three Republicans will attend the convention along with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Abbott received the worst heat from the Texas Democrats, the group blasting the governor for taking a trip to Asia on an economic development tour of the continent, saying he “enjoyed ritzy dinners and hotels,” later comparing his trip to Cruz’s 2021 trip to Cancun during Winter Storm Uri.
“Texas Republicans are ignoring the cries of their own constituents and gearing up to flee the state and attend the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week,” the press release says. “This is yet another prime example of the gross incompetence of the top leaders in the Texas government – especially in times of disaster.”
Cruz called out a Texas utility company, CenterPoint, in a social media post for its failure to restore many customers’ power in wake of the hurricane.
“Texans are no stranger to natural disasters like this, but CenterPoint’s failure to restore power for nearly a million Houston customers almost a week after Hurricane Beryl is unacceptable,” Cruz said. “I had a frank conversation with CenterPoint leadership, and made clear that they must not only get power back for Houstonians, but also address the failures that led to this and demonstrate that this will never happen again.”
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A recent YouGov poll saw Cruz leading Allred 47% to 44% in their Senate race as the senator looks to be elected for the third time.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Abbott’s and Patrick’s office but did not receive a response.