Ted Cruz Caught In Ft. Lauderdale As Shutdown Drags On

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is perhaps the American lawmaker most associated with taking vacations at inappropriate times, thanks to his 2021 flight to Cancun during a weather emergency in Texas.

Now, Cruz is in Florida during the partial government shutdown.

According to TMZ, which has been extensively reporting on the travel of members of Congress while Congress is out of session, Cruz was spotted at the airport in Ft Lauderdale, Fla.

“It ain’t Cancun, but it’s close … Ted Cruz was spotted at the Ft. Lauderdale airport Tuesday, days after Congress threw up its collective hands and left for Spring Break,” TMZ reported. “The Senator from Texas has been hopscotching around the country since leaving D.C., first to Houston, then to Dallas, where he went to the CPAC convention, then he found his way to South Florida.”

👀 EXCLUSIVE: Ted Cruz is in Ft. Lauderdale amid the government shutdown. https://t.co/Ui20nnTYe7 pic.twitter.com/dQLUwZlMXI

— TMZ (@TMZ) March 31, 2026

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It’s not clear what Cruz is doing in Ft Lauderdale. His Senate colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), was spotted in Florida as well, attending Walt Disney World and then later golfing.

The New York Times, meanwhile, wrote about the gossip website’s new gambit of concentrating on the shutdown-era elected officials traveling.

TMZ executive producer Harvey Levin told @JiraViolet they now have a producer and a photographer on Capitol Hill

“TMZ has covered politics for years, but several months ago we decided to amp up our presence and our voice” https://t.co/pUSgY6BX1Y

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 31, 2026

“On the 41st day of the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, as members of Congress began flying home for their scheduled spring recess after failing to reach a deal to reopen the agency, TMZ’s founder, Harvey Levin, decided they should receive the same sort of scrutiny,” the Times reported. “He published a series of photographs of Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, including one of him holding a bubble wand at Disney World. There was an image of Representative Robert Garcia, Democrat of California, hanging out at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort. Some were pictures of lawmakers rushing through airports or on planes, making their escapes from Washington.”

“TMZ has covered politics for years, but several months ago we decided to amp up our presence and our voice,” TMZ’s Harvey Levin said in a statement to the Media. “We now have a producer and a photog circulating in the Capitol, showing the intersection between politics and pop culture.”