As Ted cruz jetted off to Cancun, Beto O’Rourke organized wellness checks for Texas seniors

Responding to a statewide crisis in Texas, former 2020 Democratic presidential and 2018 Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke announced on Wednesday that he and volunteers had made more than 150,000 wellness calls to seniors throughout the state.

Hundreds of thousands of Texans are without power and millions more are dealing with burst pipes that have frozen over due to an unprecedented winter storm in the region. As his state reeled from the crisis, Sen. Ted Cruz took a plane to Cancun for a previously planned family vacation, sparking a huge wave of backlash from critics accusing him of turning a cold shoulder to the plight of his constituents.

The Texas Democratic Party has called on Cruz to resign over the incident. Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement that Cruz “is proving to be an enemy to our state by abandoning us in our greatest time of need.”

“Ted Cruz jetting off to Mexico while Texans remain dying in the cold isn’t surprising but it is deeply disturbing and disappointing,” Hinojosa said. “Cruz is emblematic of what the Texas Republican Party and its leaders have become: weak, corrupt, inept, and self-serving politicians who don’t give a damn about the people they were elected to represent. They were elected by the people but have no interest or intent of doing their jobs.”

Speaking on CNN this Wednesday, O’Rourke said that seniors in the state still don’t have water pressure or electricity.

“There are others who literally had to break up furniture to burn in their fireplace to keep them and their kids warm,” O’Rourke said.

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Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.