Blog Post: Ted Cruz’s “American Psycho” Moment: Vacationing in Cancun While Texas Freezes

As a mother to a three year old, I look for opportunities to teach and reinforce values of kindness, generosity, and resilience. I want my child to have good role models whether that’s teachers at school or elected officials. That’s why NRDC Action Votes is running an ad against U.S. Senator Ted Cruz because the only thing he represents is an absolute failure of moral leadership and a cautionary tale to our children.

It’s telling that the most high profile moment of Ted Cruz’s Senate career is when he abandoned Texas. When the power grid failed leaving families freezing and small business reeling, Ted Cruz did not lift a finger to help. He could not run away fast enough. He hightailed it to Cancun so he could bask in sunshine on the beach while 4 million people and businesses struggled for survival. Two hundred and forty people lost their lives. But Ted Cruz took a look at the crisis and saw it as an opportunity… for a vacation.

Though it doesn’t generate the same headlines or social media scorn, Ted Cruz’s voting record is the more insidious, consistent betrayal of Texas. Time and again he has voted against the interests of Texas families and small businesses. Who votes against disaster relief to help communities brought to rubble? Ted Cruz. Who votes against funding FEMA, the agency that responds to natural disasters to help communities rebuild? Ted Cruz again. Who could have spent the last decade in Washington fighting to improve the grid? Texas Senator, Ted Cruz.

As the Director of NRDC Action Votes, I felt compelled to highlight this profound dereliction of duty. That’s why we’ve released a new advertisement satirizing the film “American Psycho”, but casting Ted Cruz as the lead. This isn’t about political point-scoring; it’s about upholding a baseline expectation for the job of U.S. Senator, and holding Ted Cruz accountable for falling laughably short.

The 2021 winter storm wasn’t just a freak event; it was a wake-up call. Senator Cruz’s actions during the crisis were not just a lapse in judgment—they were a betrayal of the trust Texans placed in him. While the state suffered, its Senator was lounging seaside, disconnected from the very real suffering unfolding back home. The fact is that we will continue to face intensifying natural disasters, and Texans are already feeling the effects of that uncertainty - from an unreliable grid, where more fossil fuels fail, to skyrocketing cost of insurance or even declined flood coverage.

We need leaders who understand the gravity of these challenges, and we deserve U.S. Senators who are a model for our children. Or at bare minimum, are willing to show up for the job.

Jocelyn Steinberg is the Director of NRDC Action Votes. NRDC Action Votes is an independent expenditure political committee affiliated with the NRDC Action Fund. It works to avert dangerous climate change, support healthy people and thriving communities, and conserve and protect nature and wildlife.