Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other Texans were quick to strike back on Wednesday after Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, insulted the Lone Star State's largest city.
Lamont had been in Houston for the men's college basketball Final Four, where the University of Connecticut won the national championship earlier this week.
While the governor celebrated the team's victory, he apparently wasn't a fan of the city where the victory took place. Appearing on WPLR-FM's "Chaz & AJ in the Morning" radio show on Wednesday, Lamont was asked to describe the scene after UConn's win over San Diego State two days earlier. Lamont began by commenting on the city of Houston.
"After winning the semifinal, you walk around downtown Houston, which is butt ugly, not much there," Lamont said before the hosts interjected.
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"You know that's going to be tweeted," one of the hosts said while laughing. "Get ready to hear from Houston. Houston, we have a problem."
Lamont then finished his thought. "Except for the UConn fans," he said. "Everywhere you'd hear bouncing off of those big, empty walls, 'Let's go UConn, UConn Huskies.'"
As the radio host predicted, Houston responded to Lamont's insult.
"We are disappointed Governor @GovNedLamont of Connecticut made such classless comments about @HoustonTX," tweeted the office of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a fellow Democrat. "We are a great city that hosted a fantastic @MarchMadnessMBB #FinalFour2023."
The tweet included a video of Turner telling reporters that Lamont is "factually wrong" about Houston being "butt ugly," saying residents are "proud" of the city. Turner also took a shot at Connecticut for being one of the country's smaller states, noting that Houston is the fourth most populous U.S. city.
"When you win you can be gracious, be kind," the mayor continued. "It just was not the sort of statement that I expected the governor of Connecticut to make, especially when his team comes to the city, we host him … and this is how you show gratitude? Not a good lesson to give to your players."
Turner himself then called out both Lamont and Connecticut on his personal Twitter account, asking when's the last time that Connecticut hosted a men's college basketball Final Four.
Turner wasn't the only Texan to clap back at Lamont. Cruz was also quick to respond.
"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. "Must be hard to see so many good jobs for blue-collar workers. Stay classy, Ned. And congrats on the win!"
Robert Ford, the radio voice for the Houston Astros baseball team, similarly slammed Lamont on social media
"That's rich coming from someone who lives in Hartford," he wrote.
Hartford and New Haven are generally considered Connecticut's two most dangerous cities and have in previous years been ranked among the nation's top 100 most dangerous cities due to violent crime rates.
Wednesday wasn't the first time that Lamont attacked Houston following UConn's big win.
"You're walking around downtown Houston, it's kind of godforsaken, not very pretty, but everywhere you go you see people in a T-shirt and they see you right back and [say] 'UConn Huskies,'" the governor told Brian Schactman on WTIC's "Brian and Company" earlier on Wednesday.
