Sen. Ted Cruz declined to say whether he would support Senate Minority Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican leader in 2014.
The Texas Republican dodged the question from National Review’s Betsy Woodruff, she reported, and instead focused his answer on the re-election battle McConnell has to win before he can continue in his post as minority leader, or become the majority leader if Republicans win control of the Senate.
“I’m going to leave that election and every other incumbent Republican election to the voters of their respective states,” he said after a pause.
McConnell is facing a primary challenge from businessman Matt Bevin, who has the backing of a number of outside conservative groups like Senate Conservatives Fund and FreedomWorks. The winner of the primary will face Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes.
Cruz has made little effort to conceal his lack of warm and fuzzy feelings for McConnell: he accused Republican leadership of engaging in “trickery” during a vote to advance the bill to raise the debt limit last week, when both McConnell and the senior senator from Texas, Minority Whip John Cornyn, voted with Democrats on a procedural vote to advance the bill, votes made necessary by Cruz’s filibuster of the bill.