Washington: Sen. Ted Cruz said Friday that he would vote for Donald Trump for president, two months after Cruz pointedly declined to endorse his former rival in a speech at the Republican National Convention.

“After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump,” Cruz wrote in a statement on Facebook.

For Cruz, who has fashioned himself as the unbending conscience of modern conservatism, the decision to endorse Trump is the latest remarkable gamble in a career defined by them, placing him in the corner of an ideologically elastic candidate who savaged Cruz — and, often, the senator’s family — at every turn during the nominating contest.

In his statement, Cruz said he had based his decision on two factors: a prior pledge to support the Republican nominee and his desire to defeat Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee.

“If Clinton wins, we know — with 100 per cent certainty — that she would deliver on her left-wing promises, with devastating results for our country,” Cruz said. “My conscience tells me I must do whatever I can to stop that.”

But Cruz’s statement went beyond the perfunctory, praising the policy aims and recent campaign promises of a man he once called a “pathological liar.”

Cruz did not address the personal attacks Trump had levelled — always without hesitation, often without evidence — against the Texas senator and his family during the nominating fight.

In recent weeks, several former aides and allies to Cruz had urged him not to publicly back Trump, on both principled and pragmatic grounds.

Such support could be seen as jeopardising Cruz’s professed reputation for conservative ideological purity, given Trump’s shape-shifting political views, which Cruz delighted in highlighting during his presidential bid.

On Friday, Trump said he was “greatly honoured” to have the backing of a “tough and brilliant opponent.”

As news of Cruz’s plans surfaced, first on Politico, some Cruz allies wasted no time registering their displeasure.

“I’m just trying to get this Cruz sticker off my car,” Rick Tyler, the senator’s former campaign spokesman, said shortly after the endorsement was announced. “I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea and think I’m a Trump supporter.”

— New York Times News Service