Sen. Ted Cruz tried to frame New York City’s 78-degree air-conditioning request as a sign of urban dysfunction, but he did not know the archives will come back to bite him.
The Texas senator posted on X that “in a first-world country, you could turn on the A/C,” responding to New York Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s request that residents set air conditioners to 78 degrees, turn off unused electronics, and unplug devices during a major heat wave.
X’s Community Notes system then added context, pointing out that Cruz’s own state has made similar requests on several occasions.
ERCOT, the grid operator covering about 90% of Texas’ electric load, asked Texans on June 14, 2021, to reduce electricity use because of tight grid conditions caused by forced generation outages and potential record June demand. Its recommended actions included setting thermostats to “78 degrees or higher,” turning off lights and pool pumps, avoiding large appliances and unplugging unused items. The operator said generator owners had reported about 11,000 megawatts of generation on forced outage, far above the typical hot-weather thermal outage range cited in its release.
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The same conservation logic appeared years earlier under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. In August 2015, Abbott urged Texans to curb electricity use as air-conditioning demand pushed the state toward record power consumption. The Texas Tribune reported that ERCOT’s recommendations included turning off unnecessary lights and electronics, setting home air-conditioning thermostats to 78 degrees or higher and avoiding major appliances during peak hours.
New York’s advisory came during a serious heat event. The mayor’s office said it was expanding emergency heat measures for July 1 to 5, opening cooling centers, extending pool hours, increasing outreach and warning that temperatures could feel as hot as 112 degrees.
Media reports said Mamdani asked residents on X to set air conditioners to 78 degrees to reduce strain on the power grid. The New York Post reported that the city was facing temperatures that could reach 100 degrees for the first time since 2012.
The report also cited Barstool founder Dave Portnoy as criticizing Mandani’s request, saying “78 degrees??? Welcome to communism people! Hope you enjoy!” Portnoy is reportedly considering running against the New York mayor.
The 78-degree number is not new political doctrine. Utilities and grid operators ask customers to shift or reduce consumption during peak periods because air conditioning drives large summer load spikes. Cutting usage at the margin can reduce stress when demand is high, generation is offline or local distribution systems are strained.
But there is also a political risk for Mamdani. The New York Post separately reported that parts of City Hall were cooler than the mayor’s recommended 78-degree target, based on the outlet’s own temperature checks.
Still, the Cruz fact-check lands because it exposes a familiar climate-era contradiction. As heat waves intensify, officials in both red and blue states increasingly rely on the same conservation scripts.
