Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton traveled to Utah during devastating winter storms

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Paxton’s campaign spokesman, Ian Prior, would not tell CNN when the couple left or returned, but said the attorney general “did not leave Texas until after power returned to most of the state, including his own home.”

“Attorney General Paxton attended a previously scheduled meeting with the Attorney General of Utah to discuss various matters,” said Prior.

Paxton’s journey makes him the second high-profile Republican to leave the state during the crisis, after Senator Ted Cruz was spotted last week on a plane bound for Cancun, Mexico, while millions of Texans were without power or water. After returning to Houston Thursday afternoon, Cruz told reporters outside his home that it was “clearly a mistake” and that “in hindsight I wouldn’t have done it.”

“I started to have my doubts the moment I got on the plane because on the one hand, we all have a responsibility to take care of our children, take care of our families. That’s something Texans have done. , ”said Cruz, who had said in an earlier statement that he flew to Mexico because his daughters had asked to take a trip and he was trying to be a“ good father. ”

As an official elected to federal office, Cruz has no on-site role in the response to the storm, but natural disasters are often a time when voters ask their elected officials for help and access to resources.

As Attorney General in Texas, Paxton is responsible for overseeing key aspects of the state’s response to the devastating winter storm.

As a result, he faced a swift backlash from Democratic politicians in the state, including Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, who said in a statement. pronunciation“Republicans in Texas don’t give a shit about the people they’ve been chosen for, and they continue to focus on issues that don’t affect the lives of everyday Texans so they think they’re doing their job.”
Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Julian Castro, Texas native tweeted that Paxton and Cruz “don’t care about the people they should represent.”

As government officials work to turn the lights back on for Texas households still in the dark and to address widespread water disruptions, some residents face damage that could take weeks – or months – to recover from.

According to Gary Rasp, media specialist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, about 8.6 million people – nearly a third of the state’s population – still had water disruptions Monday night.

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