Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, is once again facing public criticism for being out of the country when his state was hit hard by a natural disaster.
As floodwaters surged in Central Texas on Friday morning, Mr. Cruz was on a preplanned family vacation in Greece. The senator “promptly booked a flight” back home, arriving in Texas on Sunday night, the earliest he could return, according to a statement from his office.
He was on the ground in Kerrville, one of the areas worst hit, by “early Monday morning,” the statement added. By then, more than 80 people had been declared dead, and dozens more were missing.
Photographs widely circulated online appeared to show Mr. Cruz touring the Parthenon in Athens with his family on Saturday, suggesting that the senator may have continued with at least some of his previously scheduled sightseeing as the death toll climbed. The Times has not independently authenticated the images and the senator’s office did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether they were authentic.
Mr. Cruz’s absence from Texas during the first 72 hours after the deadly flooding, and his presence in a popular vacation spot instead, drew intense criticism on social media, including comparisons to when the senator left the state in 2021 after a winter storm knocked out power for millions of Texans.
Mr. Cruz later admitted that it was “obviously a mistake” to fly with his family to Cancún, Mexico, to stay at a luxury resort and work in the sun, while his constituents suffered freezing temperatures.
His statement said in this case, Mr. Cruz continued to work while he was abroad. Over the weekend, the senator was coordinating from Greece with President Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot and other top state officials “to ensure that the maximum federal assets were available for search and rescue,” the statement said, adding that he also was “working closely” with the families of missing victims, including the girls of Camp Mystic.
His office did not respond to an inquiry about whether the senator had tried to book an earlier flight.
Megan Mineiro is a Times congressional reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
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