Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) Tuesday evening endorsement of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 bid marked a significant moment for the Senate Republican Conference.
Cruz was the 25th senator to endorse Trump in the primary, officially securing him the support of the majority of Senate Republicans, of whom there are 49. While more than half of House Republicans, including most of the party leaders, were quick to throw their support behind Trump last year, Senate endorsements have trickled in at a slower pace.
Many GOP senators, Cruz included, went into this primary season saying they planned to stay neutral until the general election. A number of them have since opted to weigh in after Trump has dominated in the polls and had a strong performance in the Iowa caucuses.
A number of those who continue to withhold their endorsements dodged questions on Tuesday about Trump’s 51% finish in Iowa the night before.
“I just think the voters of Iowa spoke,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) said when asked for his reaction to the caucus results.
Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), who vocally opposes the former president’s 2024 bid, replied with a stern “no” when asked by the Washington Examiner if he had any thoughts about Trump’s Monday night win.
The Senate GOP conference has many centrist and establishment Republicans with penchants for bipartisanship. Several of Trump’s GOP skeptics were able to develop decent working relationships with the former president while in office, though a number of those have since deteriorated.
Trump’s refusal to accept his 2020 election loss and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot that ensued left his standing with most Senate Republicans in near disrepair. Republicans went on to blame Trump for the party’s incumbents losing runoff races in Georgia, handing Democrats control of the Senate.
The former president’s GOP detractors grew more critical after Republicans underperformed in the 2022 midterm elections, only retaking the House by a slim margin and failing to regain Senate control.
A number of Senate Republicans have said they will not support Trump in the primary, with a few in that group even endorsing his 2024 challengers. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) was one of those challengers, though he has since dropped out of the primary and maintains that he will support the eventual nominee.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who famously stopped taking Trump’s calls as he refused to give up his push to overturn the 2020 election results, has committed to not weighing in on the presidential primary this cycle. Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), the No. 2 Senate Republican, had endorsed Scott but is now staying out of the primary.
Those same senators now face an uncomfortable reality: Trump is the clear front-runner in the Republican primary field and is performing ahead of President Joe Biden in some general election polls.
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“Some will come around reluctantly, some of us will come around enthusiastically, and some may never get there,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the Washington Examiner in November 2023 of how his wary GOP colleagues would handle the former president becoming the party’s standard-bearer once again.
The senators who have endorsed Trump alongside Cruz and Graham are Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Budd (R-NC), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Steve Daines (R-MT), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Jim Risch (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).