Texas Senator Ted Cruz refused to claim that he will support Mitch McConnell for Senate Majority Leader — even after Republicans gained control of both the House and the Senate on Tuesday.
Wolf Blitzer asked Cruz on CNN, “Will you support Mitch McConnell as your leader in the United States Senate?”
The senator responded, “That will be a decision for the conference to make next week.”
Cruz decided to focus on the Republicans’ sweeping victory. He said, “But I’ll tell you, tonight was a terrific night for Republicans. It was a powerful repudiation of the Obama agenda and the Obama economy, which isn’t working. And now the responsibility falls on the Republicans, now that we’ve been handed the majority, for us to stand up and lead. I hope that’s what we do.”
Steering the discussion back to McConnell, Blitzer said, “I know you don’t want to answer this question but I want to try one more time, because a few days ago you were reluctant to make it clear that you would support Mitch McConnell as the Republican majority leader. The Republicans will be in the majority, can you not tell us now whether you will or you won’t support Mitch McConnell? What’s standing in the way?”
“I’m going to give the same answer I did the first time you asked that question,” Cruz said. “Which is, that’ll be a decision for the conference to make next week.”
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