Cruz adds to chorus of GOP voices calling for delay in Senate leadership vote

Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) joined a chorus of Republican senators on Friday calling for a delay in the party holding its Senate leadership vote amid a report that Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was considering a challenge to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) leadership. 

Cruz tweeted that holding leadership elections before the runoff election in Georgia between Republican Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) “makes no sense.” He said the GOP does not yet know if the party will have the majority in the Senate yet, and Walker should have a voice in choosing the party’s leader in the body. 

Politico reported Thursday that Scott, the chairman of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, dropped a planned challenge to McConnell after the party failed to pick up key Senate seats in states like Pennsylvania and New Hampshire in the midterm elections.

McConnell said in an interview with CNN last month that he had the votes to remain the leader of the Senate GOP. 

Republicans have been looking into who is to blame for the party’s performance in the midterms, with some pointing to former President Trump and others blaming GOP establishment leaders. 

“Critically, we need to hear a specific plan for the next 2 yrs from any candidate for leadership,” Cruz said. 

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called for delaying leadership elections, which are scheduled for next week, earlier on Friday. A Rubio adviser told The Hill that the senator believes the focus of next week should be what went wrong and what the party stands for, not who leads the conference. 

Trump has called for McConnell to be ousted as party leader and has repeatedly sparred with him since McConnell denounced him for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.