Ted Cruz, Mike Lee Announce Support for Scott's Leadership Bid, Vote Expected Today

Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) have declared their endorsement for Senator Rick Scott's (R-FL) Majority Leader bid. The Republican Party won the majority in the Senate on Election Day, providing Sens. Scott, John Cornyn (R-TX), and John Thune (R-SD) with more motivation to become their party’s leader in the upper chamber.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has led the Senate Republican Conference since 2007. He announced his intention to step down in late February.

Sen. Scott has since reaffirmed that he will seek the position of majority leader, ensuring that he will be the “change” candidate within the party leadership. The secret ballot vote to decide who will be the next majority leader is expected to occur today.

Cruz Supports Scott Again

Sen. Cruz's support of Scott is in lockstep with his belief that there needs to have been a shake-up in Republican leadership for over a decade.

"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," said Sen. Cruz.

Mike Lee Gives the Nod

Furthermore, Sen. Lee announced that he held an event that allowed his colleagues to hear from the three candidates. He then announced that he would ultimately support Sen. Scott.

Within his thread, Sen. Lee cited his concerns of "consolidated power" at the top, lack of senators' ability to debate, discuss, and amend legislation. He also described Scott as the most "reform-minded" candidate in the race.

"While I personally like all three leadership candidates and consider them friends—and while each offers a unique set of skills, experience, and plans that could prove useful to the Senate and the American people—Rick Scott stands out as the most aggressively reform-minded candidate," said Lee. "Rick Scott offers the most specific, aggressive plan for restoring the Senate’s most time-honored traditions, rooted in its rules. And he’s embraced many of these reforms—which have been reflected in his votes & advocacy within the conference—since long before this race began."

Moreover, the Utah senator added that Scott would work for the senators in the chamber and not the other way around, and would be a recourse to "The Firm" — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

"Rick Scott has offered concrete plans for (a) protecting each senator’s ability to call up amendments and make them pending, (b) reforming the (currently barbaric) way in which the Senate passes spending bills, in which most senators have literally no meaningful opportunity to to amend—or even read and debate—spending bills negotiated in secret by The Firm, and (c) otherwise ensuring that the Senate GOP leader will work for those who elect him, and not the other way around," said Lee.

The Floridian will keep you updated on the Senate Majority Leader race as the day goes on.