Cornyn has for years signaled he wanted to succeed his close ally GOP leader Mitch McConnell. He lost in a vote decided by the Republican members of the Senate.

Cornyn, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002, has long sought to be Senate Majority Leader, the first from Texas since Lyndon B. Johnson.

In the first seriously contested Senate Republican leadership election in decades, three senators are vying to replace longtime GOP leader Mitch McConnell when he steps down from the post at the beginning of next year.