Sen. Ted Cruz publicly called out New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s energy conservation recommendation Wednesday night, drawing critics who noted that Texas made the same ask to residents multiple times.
Mamdani’s post, on X, asked New Yorkers to set their air conditioning to 78 degrees, and to turn off and unplug lights and electronics when they’re not being used to avoid overloading the power grid as the city experiences a major heatwave until July 4. Cruz wrote Wednesday night, “In a first-world country, you could turn on the A/C….”
He also reposted text that reads, “In the free state of Florida, we all went to bed to 68 degrees. AND it’s the 4th year our budget has decreased. Commie.” on Thursday morning.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has historically recommended that Texans set their home thermostats to 78 degrees and avoid using large appliances during heat waves.
These recommendations are also typical across other states. Florida, California, Arizona and several others have recommended lowering air conditioning to 78 degrees. New York has also issued the recommendation multiple times before Mamdani’s term — once in 2019, and again in 2022 and 2024.
As of June 10, the U.S. Department of Energy’s website recommended keeping indoor temperatures between 75 and 78 degrees to save energy. The webpage now displays a “page not found” message. Google shows the page was last updated two days ago.
Some users called Cruz’s post hypocritical. Users flooded his comments with posts about Cruz’s February 2021 trip to Cancún, Mexico, while Texas experienced Winter Storm Uri, an extreme winter storm, along with historic power grid failure. At least 246 died.
Other prominent GOP figures also took to X to share opinions on Mamdani’s post. Former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote that Mamdani’s tweet was “the worst campaign ad for the Democrats” and used the phrase “Bless your hearts.”
Former U.S. President candidate Nikki Haley wrote “Welcome to Socialism.” X users pointed out she issued the same recommendation while she was South Carolina’s governor in 2015. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) said the recommendation was “an act of war against women in menopause.”
Cruz’s team and the DOE did not respond to requests for comment.