Texas senator Ted Cruz accused of flying to Cancun at height of winter storm chaos

Democrats have accused the lawmaker and Twitter users are sharing photos from a plane and airport

Social media users, including politicians, have accused Texas senator Ted Cruz of traveling to Cancun as a huge winter storm decimates his state.

On Thursday, photos began circulating on Twitter alleging that the senator was spotted at an airport and then on an airplane en route to Mexico.

The Associated Press reported that a source with direct knowledge of the situation told the agency that Sen Cruz went with his family for a long-planned trip to Cancun and was expected to return immediately.

A Republican source has reportedly also confirmed to Fox News that the accusations regarding the trip are true, having reportedly told the broadcaster: "The photos speak for themselves.”

Senator Cruz’s offices in Texas and Washington DC did not return requests for comment and The Independent could not verify the identity of the individual that appears in the photographs or when they were taken.

Democrat politicians immediately shared the claims and criticised the lawmaker on-air.

His one-time rival Beto O’Rourke referenced the allegations in an interview with MSNBC while calling for politicians to be held accountable for the insurrection on 6 January.

“Unless we hold those responsible accountable for what they did -- yes, that means Donald Trump, but it also means the junior senator from the state of Texas,” Mr O’Rourke said, before adding: “who I understand is vacationing in Cancun right now, when people are literally freezing to death in the state he was elected to represent and serve.”

Texas State Representative Gene Wu also retweeted the photograph and shared the claims in a long thread of criticism against the senator.

“Guess which US Senator from Texas flew to Cancun while the state was freezing to death and having to boil water?,” the representative tweeted.

A former senior digital advisor to Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff’s campaign, Keith Edwards, claimed people had messaged him to confirm the senator was on the flight.

“I now have multiple people DMing me, confirming he was on their flight to Cancun today,” he said on Twitter.

More than four million Texas residents were left without power amid harsh weather in Texas, with 500,000 customers still suffering power outages across the state on Thursday. A number of people have died in incidents caused by or related to the harsh weather.