Ted Cruz Booed by Astros Fans at World Series Victory Parade

Senator Ted Cruz was met with boos during a parade celebrating the Houston Astros' World Series victory on Monday.

Cruz, a Texas Republican, joined the celebratory parade through downtown Houston, being driven by an apparent humvee, where some spectators loudly booed or signaled a thumbs down at the senator. Videos of the encounter dotted Twitter on Monday afternoon, when some critics further ridiculed Cruz.

"Ted Cruz getting booed at the Astro parade lol," tweeted @auhmandah, who added a laughing emoji.

KPRC journalist Chancellor Johnson tweeted: "Ted Cruz pulled off what I thought was impossible- getting booed at a championship parade." One person in his video was seen carrying a campaign sign for Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic nominee in Texas' gubernatorial race.

Despite the negative response from some fans, Cruz continued to wave to the crowd. Darin Miller, Cruz's communications director, tweeted that there were "lots of cheers too," while Cruz tweeted about the "fired up crowd."

"Fired up crowd today during the @Astros #WorldSeries parade! Such a great time celebrating an amazing team! #GoStros," Cruz tweeted.

A separate video showed one heckler appearing to throw a can of beer at Cruz. He did not appear to be injured, and Houston police confirmed they arrested a 33-year-old man suspected of throwing the can. The suspect has not been publicly identified.

When reached by Newsweek, a Cruz spokesperson pointed to Miller's tweet.

Just weeks earlier on October 24, Cruz was heckled while attending a game in which the Astros were playing against the New York Yankees. In the footage, Cruz was seen trying to leave Yankee Stadium, located in the Bronx borough of New York City, after the game, but some fans loudly booed at the senator.

Other baseball fans could be heard shouting, "Go back to Cancun."

In February 2021, a winter storm brought massive power outages and damage to parts of Texas, but Cruz was seen leaving the state to head to a vacation with his family in Cancun, drawing significant backlash. He has since apologized.

Even though Texas has a GOP tilt, Houston is a liberal-leaning city. Its quick growth and Democratic-trending suburbs fueled GOP hopes of taking down Republicans in Tuesday night's midterms, but Republicans appear poised to win key statewide races.

Cruz, however, is not up for reelection until 2024. He faced a tight reelection in 2018, beating O'Rourke back by only about 2.6 percentage points.

The Astros won the World Series Championship on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies. They previously won the title in 2017, as well.

Updated 11/07/2022 5:38 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and context.