Senate Republicans vote for new leader: Ted Cruz not voting for John Cornyn

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during a press conference on border security alongside Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) at the U.S. Capitol Building on September 27, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

AUSTIN, Texas - U.S. Senate Republicans are gathering to vote for a new leader and decide who will replace current Senate leader Mitch McConnell who has led the Senate GOP since 2007.

The leading candidates for the job are Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and South Dakota Sen. John Thune.

Cornyn's fellow U.S. senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, announced he would be voting for Scott.

In his post on X, Cruz said:

"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."

"For 12 yrs, I’ve been unequivocal that we need to change GOP Leadership—and now we finally will."

Cornyn does have support from Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley who said "I'm backing John Cornyn for majority leader," in a statement. 

"In the last two years, nobody has done more to win back the majority than he has. He tirelessly raised millions of dollars for competitive Senate races, including mine," Hawley added.

What we know

This will be the second time Rick Scott has tried to become the party's Senate leader. He was among the senators who challenged McConnell two years ago but only received ten votes.

Cornyn and Thune, who is the Senate Minority Whip currently, are popular among their colleagues in the Senate and have worked internally for months to campaign for the role.

Scott, meanwhile, has mostly worked outside the Senate, campaigning as the candidate who's closest to President-elect Donald Trump. Unlike Cornyn and Thune, who’ve been openly critical of Trump in the past, Scott has remained a staunch loyalist through the years.

Trump has not endorsed a candidate.

The vote is by secret ballot and if no one wins a majority on the first ballot, further rounds of voting will take place until a leader is chosen.

New leadership will take over in January when the next Congress is sworn in.