How Twitter sleuths uncovered Ted Cruz’s Cancun getaway

Social media users tracked Texas senator’s travel that led to controversy

(Getty)

It is the winter family getaway that Ted Cruz will never be allowed to forget.

With his home state paralysed by a brutal winter storm that saw millions lose power, heat and water, their senator jetted to Cancun for a luxury beach resort break with his family.

And even when addressing the short-lived trip, the lawmaker blamed it on his daughters wanting to vacation with friends.

Rumours of Mr Cruz’s sunshine break began to emerge on social media on Wednesday evening.

Twitter user Juan Gomez flagged at around 9pm ET that a man who looked like Mr Cruz had left the US for warmer climes, and posted a picture of him at an airport gate.

“Well Senator Cruz is flying to Cancun while millions of Texans do not have electricity,” he tweeted.

The tweet quickly picked up momentum online, and other travellers began to post pictures of Mr Cruz at the airport, and boarding his plane.

“I’ll just drop these right here. Him in the United Airlines first class lounge & then boarding his flight to Cancun,” tweeted Ashley Osborne.

Other users pointed out that the woman with the masked passenger was Mr Cruz’s wife, Heidi, and that Mr Cruz was wearing the same mask he had been photographed in at the US Capitol.

Twitter user Doug Landry, then pointed out that a “Cru, R” was on the publicly available business class upgrade list for the United Airlines flight on Wednesday from Houston to Cancun.

The senator’s full name is Rafael Edward Cruz.

But there was no comment from Mr Cruz’s office on Wednesday, and the normally combative politician made no comment himself on Twitter.

Fox News became the first network to confirm Mr Cruz’s trip with a Republican source on Thursday morning.

“The photos speak for themselves,” the GOP source told the network.

ABC News then confirmed with Houston police that Mr Cruz’s office had requested assistance for his departure from the city on Wednesday afternoon.

Jake Sherman, of Politico, then tweeted that Mr Cruz was on the upgrade list for a Thursday flight from Cancun, back to Houston, cutting short his trip.

A United Airlines source told Edward Russell of travel industry website Skift, that Mr Cruz was supposed to return from Mexico to Texas on Saturday, but that he had rebooked his flight on Thursday morning as the controversy grew.

Finally Mr Cruz issued a statement on Thursday afternoon, claiming he had flown to Mexico to accompany his wife and daughters there.

Mr Cruz stated that he had flown with them “to be a good dad” for his daughters, who had “asked to take a trip with friends” when schools were cancelled for the week.