Returning home to protesters at his door, Ted Cruz says he regrets taking luxury vacation to Cancun amid devastating Texas winter storms

Ted Cruz cancun 3.JPG — U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to the media at the Cancun International Airport before boarding his plane back to the U.S., in Cancun, Mexico February 18, 2021.
Stringer/Reuters

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas flew to Cancun Wednesday and returned Thursday after criticism over the trip.
Texas is coping with severe winter weather, as millions lost power, heat, or clean drinking water.
The senator expressed regret over the trip while protesters gathered in front of his home.
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Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas returned from Cancun Thursday evening to find protesters outside his home demanding his resignation after taking the trip while millions in the state deal with severe winter weather.

Speaking to reporters outside his home, Cruz expressed regret for the trip while the protesters could be heard chanting in the background.

"It was obviously a mistake and in hindsight I wouldn't have done it," Cruz said, saying that it wasn't his intention to diminish "the suffering and hardship other Texans had experienced."

—ABC News (@ABC) February 19, 2021

Cruz's decision to fly to Cancun while millions of people in Texas battled unusual winter storms, power outages, and drinking water shortages was met with swift criticism. He flew out of the country Wednesday evening, returning the following day amid growing outrage.

The senator also reiterated he was trying to be a good dad by getting his two girls out of the cold, and said he had planned to be working remotely while on the trip.

"From the moment I sat on the plane, I began really second-guessing that decision," Cruz told reporters. He said the outrage over the trip made the decision to come home more compelling.

He also called for a "longer term examination" of what went wrong in Texas.

"Our priority should be fixing this problem, and making sure it doesn't happen again, and I didn't want all the screaming and yelling about this trip to distract even one moment from the real issues that I think Texans care about," Cruz said, as protesters outside his home carried signs that read "RESIGN" and chanted "Ted Cruz has got to go."