The Republican senator, who was on a preplanned family vacation, did not return to his state until 72 hours after the deadly disaster, which his office said was as quickly as possible.

Cruz was captured queuing up to visit the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, on Saturday afternoon local time, after Texas authorities had already announced 24 deaths from the catastrophic flash floods in the Texas Hill Country and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) had signed a disaster declaration to aid the response.