Rafael Edward Cruz is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 to 2008.

In February 2021, during a historic winter storm, up to 4.3 million Texas residents were left without power and millions of others without drinking water, including Cruz and his family. In the middle of the storm, Cruz and his family were spotted on a plane heading to Cancún, Mexico, where they planned to stay at the luxury Ritz Carlton hotel and escape their home, which Heidi Cruz called in a text message "FREEZING". Cruz requested that the Houston police escort him and his family through the airport.

Cruz left the family poodle Snowflake alone inside the house without heat; reporters saw the dog through the window of the front door of the dark and empty house. Later, a self-identified security guard told a reporter he was caring for the dog.