46°
Lamont made the comments on Wednesday, April 5, when he called downtown Houston "butt ugly" in an interview with WPLR Radio in New Haven.
According to the outlet, his full quote was, "You walk around downtown Houston, which is butt ugly, not much there."
Not surprisingly, Lamont's comments prompted a quick response from Texas officials, including Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.
"Houston is not butt-ugly, Houston is a clean city," Turner said, adding that the city has "phenomenal" restaurants, a collection of "great" murals, and a beautiful skyline.
"I am very proud, and I know Houstonians are very proud of Houston as a whole," Turner said, also taking a shot at the potential lack of travel experience by his fellow Democrat, Lamont.
"I don't know what he's been exposed to, and if you haven't been exposed to much, then sometimes you don't recognize things when you are exposed to it," Turner said.
US Senator Ted Cruz, a right-wing Republican who represents Texas, also took the opportunity to lambast both Connecticut and Lamont in a sarcastic tweet that came after the governor's comment.
Cruz is no stranger to the Northeast -- having attended college at Princeton -- and New England, where he attended law school at Harvard.
"The gov of Connecticut—a commuter suburb of NYC that features lovely & safe towns like New Haven—found Houston not up to his aesthetic standard," Cruz tweeted on Wednesday, adding, "Must be hard to see so many good jobs for blue-collar workers."
Cruz did not stop there, caustically adding, "Stay classy, Ned. And congrats on the win!"
However, Cruz's comment soon caught the eye of New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, who added his two cents to the ongoing drama in a tweet on Thursday.
"Thanks for your warm comments about New Haven!" Elicker sarcastically wrote in his tweet response to the senator, adding a snide reference to Cruz's infamous trip to Cancún in February 2021 when Texas suffered through a devastating winter storm that left much of the state without power in freezing temperatures.
"It’s not Cancún, but it's lovely, safe & lots of good jobs too!" Elicker said of New Haven in his tweet, adding another reference to Cruz's original tweet regarding Lamont's comment: "Stay classy, Ted!"
As for Lamont, he declined to address his original comment in any tweets.
Click here to read the full report from the Houston Chronicle.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Westport and receive free news updates.
