Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, lectured his colleagues in a floor speech Thursday about how unsuitable Loretta Lynch was for U.S. attorney general, only to skip the vote on her confirmation and catch a plane to Dallas for a meeting and a fundraiser for his presidential campaign.
Cruz, who has been one of Lynch’s chief antagonists, was the only senator who missed the vote, which made the New York federal prosecutor the nation’s newest chief law enforcement officer by vote of 56-43.
Cruz’s absence was noteworthy and set political networks buzzing, because just a few hours earlier on the Senate floor he chided Republicans for failing to band together against her nomination.
It was a signature move for the first-term senator from the Lone Star State, who revels in tweaking and undercutting his own party colleagues in the chamber as much he does the Democrats.
Asked why he missed the confirmation vote, Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said that the senator “had a commitment in Texas.”
Frazier said that Cruz had voted against cloture – bringing an end to a debate – “which was the most important vote because final passage was guaranteed. . . . Sen. Cruz led the charge to oppose her nomination, in interviews, op-eds and a floor speech today.”
Lynch’s long-delayed nomination needed 51 votes for cloture, which senators knew she had beforehand because enough Republicans had publicly pledged their votes to approve her. The cloture vote actually ended up being 66-34 to proceed.
Several Republicans who voted against Lynch, including Cruz’s Texas colleague, Sen. John Cornyn, the majority whip, voted “yes” on the procedural vote in order to let the process take place.
“They’re both critical elements,” Senate Historian Donald Ritchie said of the cloture vote and the confirmation vote. “But the first is procedural and the second is what actually decides the outcome.”
Before the cloture vote, Cruz said, “The Republican majority, if it so chose, could defeat this nomination, but the Republican majority has chosen to go forward and allow Loretta Lynch to be confirmed.”
Currently the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Lynch will be the first African-American woman to become attorney general. Cruz and other Republicans criticized her for supporting President Barack Obama’s executive orders easing immigration restrictions, which would shield millions from deportation. The order is being challenged in court.
Cruz’s fundraiser at the Dallas home of former Texas Rangers baseball team owner Tom Hicks was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. CDT with a VIP reception for donors who gave $2,700 and continue from 6:30 until 8 p.m. with additional donors who gave $1,000.
“There’s a meeting before that,” said Hal Lambert, a Fort Worth investor who is Cruz’s campaign finance co-chairman and a sponsor of the reception. He expected “north of 100” people at the event.
Cruz has come under fire for missing votes and failing to attend committee meetings as he gears up his presidential campaign. On Wednesday, he was the only senator to miss the 99-0 vote approving an anti-human trafficking bill shepherded by Cornyn.
Frazier said that Cruz had been in Texas during the vote.
He has also missed votes on two Texas district judges this month, one on Monday. The New York Times reported that Cruz and his wife, Heidi, were hosted at a dinner Monday in a Central Park apartment of two prominent gay businessmen.