Cruz responds to pictures of him on Mexico flight, with Texas struggling from deadly winter storm

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz confirmed Thursday that he flew earlier this week to Mexico with family members, following the emergence of pictures appearing to show him in an airplane cabin and at a check-in counter, as fellow residents to recover from a deadly winter storm.

Cruz said in a statement that he accompanied his daughters on a flight Wednesday night to Mexico because they had the week off with school canceled.

"Wanting to be a good dad," said Cruz, who also stated he is returning to Texas on Thursday afternoon.

The storms has been connected to at least seven deaths in Texas and knocked out power to as many as 2.5 million residents. The number of residents without electricity as of Thursday morning was down to less than 1 million, officials said.  

"My staff and I are in constant communication with state and local leaders to get to the bottom of what happened in Texas," Cruz also said. "We want our power back, our water on, and our homes warm.”