Cruz made the announcement less than an hour before Republican senators were scheduled to vote for their next leader to replace longtime GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.

Republicans on Wednesday will choose between South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Florida Sen. Rick Scott to replace outgoing GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell. At this point, President-elect Donald Trump hasn't lent his support to any of the three,

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) picked up two more public endorsements for his Senate GOP leadership bid on Tuesday as senators left a multi-hour discussion about what they want the future of leadership to look like.