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Sen. Ted Cruz scuttles back to Texas after getting busted on Cancun getaway

Ted in line at Houston airport with police escort.

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In the midst of a historically awful winter weather event in which millions of people across Texas were without power, Texas Senator Ted Cruz was caught trying to make a tropical getaway to Cancun.

Cruz and his family were photographed by fellow travelers at the George Bush Airport in Houston on February 17, as well as onboard United Airlines flight #1020.

"The confirmation is from multiple eye witnesses of @tedcruz and @heidicruz in Cancun," noted journalist David Shuster, while Fox News reported that it was true.

According to the New York Times, not only did Cruz and his family make the flight but a member of Cruz's staff contacted the Houston Police Department personnel at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Wednesday afternoon requesting "assistance upon arrival" — while the city of Houston was gripped by freezing weather.

Cruz's trip caught the attention of Dan Rather, who tweeted "There's an old Texas saying: When the going gets tough, the tough go to Cancun. (No, there actually is no such saying)."

Some wondered whether Cruz's abandoning Texas with 6+ counties declared disaster areas, people freezing, without power, drinking water, burst pipes flooding homes, and dying wasn't cause for a charge of malfeasance.

Cruz was definitely aware of the crisis. On February 16, he tweeted "A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good."

Cruz criticized Austin Mayor Steve Adler when he went to Cabo in 2020, tweeting that Democrats were "complete and utter hypocrites."

By February 18, Cruz was saying he did it for his kids.

"With school canceled for the week, our girls asked us to take a trip with friends," he said. "Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon."

However, the flight showed he was on Standby, and a source at United Airlines said that Cruz was originally scheduled to return on Saturday but rebooked his flight back to Houston on Thursday morning at 6 am.

The skeptical comments responding to a theory that he would claim he planned to fly back the next day are fun:

CinPA @Cinder_Blue2020
Sure. I always fly to Cancun in the middle of the night, then fly right back the next day.

Andrew Smith @andosmith
Yeah when my family goes on vacation without me I always fly there with them to make sure they get there safely, then fly home. Who doesn't?

Jonathan Cornick @jonathancornick
His wife is a Goldman Sachs executive. Surely she’s been on a plane before?

Mass for Shut-ins (Podcast) @edburmila
Sounds extremely plausible to me, a person who was born an hour ago

Rachel Barkow @RachelBarkow
He deliberately flew there up and back to burn extra fossil fuel and dunk on the Green New Deal.

Mrs. Betty Bowers @BettyBowers
"The enormous roller bag was for Mr. Cruz's one pair of fresh underwear and the enormous duffle bag was for his toothbrush."

b-boy bouiebaisse @jbouie
who among us doesn’t immediately blame our kids when we get roasted for a bad decision

"One imagines there will be some reporters waiting for this arrival flight today back in Houston," Shuster tweeted. "Please post photos of Cruz with his tail between his legs. As for Heidi and the kids, enjoy the rest of your Cancun vacation."

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working hard

Texas clocks in as one of America's 10 hardest working states for 2026

Photo by Greeshma Gangadharan on Unsplash

Texas has been one of the top 10 hardest-working states in the country for almost a decade.

Texans pride themselves on being industrious, and a new report has confirmed Texas as one of the 10 most hardworking states in America in 2026.

The Lone Star State claimed the No. 7 spot this year in a slight dip from its 2025 ranking, where it appeared in the top five. Texas last ranked 7th in 2024, but the state has consistently appeared among the top 10 for nearly a decade.

WalletHub determined the rankings after analyzing 10 "direct" and "indirect" work factors across all 50 states, and then graded each metric on a 100-point scale, where a score of 100 signified the "hardest working." Analysts then examined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states.

There was only a 10.32-point difference between Texas and South Dakota, who claimed the top spot as America's hardest working state in 2026 with a score of 64.59 out of a possible 100 points.

Texas ranked 6th nationally in the "direct" work factors category, which examined the following six metrics:

The state's average workweek hours.
Employment rates.
The share of households where no adults work.
The share of workers leaving vacation time unused.
The share of "engaged" workers — those that are "involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and workplace," as defined by Gallup.
The rate of "idle youth" — individuals aged 18-24 who are not currently enrolled in school, not working, and have no degree beyond a high school diploma or GED.

Texas ties with Louisiana for the second highest average workweek hours nationwide, with Alaska topping the list with the No. 1 longest workweeks in America. Alaska is the only state where workers clock in more than 40 hours per week at their jobs, with WalletHub reporting Alaskans work 41.4 hours on average weekly.

In the "indirect" work factors category — which encompassed workers' average commute times, the share of workers with multiple jobs, annual volunteer hours per resident, and the average leisure time spent per day — Texas ranked 36th nationwide.

Here's how WalletHub ranked Texas in three individual metrics:

No. 10 – Average commute times
No. 20 – Average leisure time spent per day
No. 30 – Employment rates

According to the World Economic Forum, Americans clock in about 1,800 hours at work per year on average, which is 468 more hours per year than workers in Germany. And many are leaving vacation time on the table, WalletHub says.

"Even when given the chance to take time off, many Americans won’t, as nearly half of workers don't expect to use all of their allotted vacation days," the report said. "It is possible to work hard without overdoing it, though. Hard work is key to success, and the residents of some states understand that better than others."

Source: WalletHub

The top 10 hardest working states in America in 2026 are:

No. 1 – South Dakota
No. 2 – North Dakota
No. 3 – Alaska
No. 4 – Hawaii
No. 5 – Wyoming
No. 6 – Nebraska
No. 7 – Texas
No. 8 – New Hampshire
No. 9 – Tennessee
No. 10 – Georgia

texas reports labor day wallethub