Cruz endorses Scott for Senate majority leader

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a leading conservative, announced Wednesday morning he will back Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) for Senate majority leader.

“This morning, I’ll be voting for Rick Scott for GOP Leader, as I did two years ago. In 2022, I helped lead the charge for Rick against McConnell & I’m proud to stand with him again,” Cruz announced on the social media platform X.

“For 12 [years,] I’ve been unequivocal that we need to change GOP Leadership — and now we finally will,” he wrote.

Cruz’s endorsement is a blow to his fellow Texas Republican, Sen. John Cornyn, who is also running to become the next majority leader. The third candidate in the race is Senate GOP Whip John Thune (S.D.).

Cruz’s support brings Scott’s list of public endorsements from with the Senate GOP conference to eight senators, more than either of his two rivals.

Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have also endorsed Scott.

Scott got a shot of momentum in recent days when prominent MAGA-allied celebrities endorsed his bid to become Senate majority leader, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Scott challenged outgoing Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) for the top leadership job after the 2022 election but lost by a wide margin, 36-10.