Ted Cruz’s daughter was spotted grimacing as she snapped at her mom “don’t clap for that” as the Texas senator praised Donald Trump ahead of his 2024 presidential election victory.
Cruz took to the stage in Houston to address supporters as he celebrated his third term in the Senate after defeating Democratic challenger Colin Allred with 53 percent of the vote, after the former NFL linebacker hoped to flip the seat for the first time since 1994.
Surrounded by his campaign team and loved ones, the Senator made a segue to spur on Trump – prior to the president-elect garnering the all-important 270 Electoral College votes on Wednesday morning – drawing a round of applause.
But his 16-year-old daughter Caroline wasn’t happy.
“It also looks very likely that we’re going to have a Republican Senate next year. I believe, and I hope and pray, that Donald Trump will be elected president of the United States,” Cruz said on Tuesday to raucous cheers.
Meanwhile Caroline scoffed at her father’s statement and, as her eyes scanned the crowd, she spotted her mother, Heidi Cruz, joining in on the applause.
“Don’t clap for that,” the teen can be seen muttering as she scowled at her mom, before repeating: “Don’t clap… seriously.”
Cruz, seemingly oblivious of his daughter’s disapproval, continued: “I want to say thank you to our two amazing and beautiful girls Caroline and Katherine. You know, politics at times exacts a price on the family. And I want to say I am so grateful for their love and support.”
Caroline appeared to conjure a forced smile as she embraced her sister, before glaring at her mother once final time.
Comments praising Caroline poured in from eagle-eyed social media users who spotted the awkward exchange.
“She didn’t even try to hide it,” one TikTok user said with a laughing face emoji. “The face, the forced smile. I love her,” a second added.
While a third wrote: “She is me – I can’t hide my emotions to save my life. I don’t have a poker face at all.”
Caroline and her father don’t always quite see eye to eye.
In 2021, the political scion said in a since deleted TikTok that “I really disagree with most of his [Cruz’s] views”.
Cruz has been embroiled in controversy during his time in office, including his “objections” to the 2020 election results in Arizona on January 6, 2021, when he was found hiding in a broom cupboard in the Capitol building away from rioters.
The Texas lawmaker also earned the sobriquet “Cancún Cruz” after he abandoned his state in the middle of a winter storm that killed 246 Texans and left millions without power and running water in February 2021 to go on holiday with his family.
Following the recent publicity, Caroline returned to TikTok for the first time in two years with a post with her sister, Katherine, with the caption, “been a minute since i last posted!”
