Cruz on McConnell’s replacement: I want a 'leader who changes how the Senate operates'

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he hopes whoever replaces Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) atop the Senate GOP is someone who will change “how the Senate operates.”

“I want to see a majority leader who changes how the Senate operates, who democratizes it more,” Cruz said Sunday on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Cruz, who was critical of McConnell’s leadership, said he’s told the three Republican candidates up for the job that he hopes they will agree to a “full and open amendment process” for thousand-page budgets.

That process, Cruz said, would allow each senator to have the ability to say “No, take that garbage out,” and it would “fundamentally change how the Senate operates.”

“At this point, I’m waiting to see if any of the leader candidates will make a commitment to allow ... those full and open amendments,” he said.

McConnell, 82, announced in February that he would step down from his leadership position in November, ending his history-setting tenure as the longest-serving leader.

GOP Sens. John Thune (S.D.), John Cornyn (Texas) and Rick Scott (Fla.) have all announced their intentions to replace McConnell. Senate Republicans are set to choose McConnell’s successor next week.

Cruz said he thinks all three senators have a chance at becoming the leader, and he hopes they will enact change. The Texas senator slammed McConnell over how he has operated in the upper chamber.

“He’s basically behaved as a one-man dictator. I don’t think we want a leader who does that,” he said. “I think when we win in November, and I believe we’re going to see a really good election, I think Trump’s going to win. I think we’re going to win a Republican Senate and Republican House. When that happens, we’ve got enormous work to do when that happens.”

Cruz is fighting for his political life to keep his Senate seat in Texas. He faces Democratic challenger Rep. Colin Allred and has a 3.2 percentage point lead in The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s aggregation of polls.

Democrats are hopeful Allred will win and that they can maintain their lead in the Senate.