Ted Cruz endorses Donald Trump

Update 3:38 p.m.: Ted Cruz has officially announced he is voting for Donald Trump and encouraged his supporters to do the same. "If Clinton wins, we know — with 100 percent certainty — that she would deliver on her left-wing promises, with devastating results for our country. My conscience tells me I must do whatever I can to stop that," Cruz said in his announcement, which you can read in full here. Our original post appears below.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is reportedly going to back Donald Trump as early as Friday, although it is unclear to what degree Cruz will offer the Republican nominee his approval. "If he announces he endorses, it destroys his political brand," a former Cruz campaign staffer told Politico.

Cruz notably told his party to "vote your conscience" at the Republican National Convention in July, pointedly declining to actually endorse Trump; Trump, for his part, has repeatedly insinuated Cruz's father had something to do with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It is unknown if Cruz will simply say he will be casting his own vote for Trump, or if he will offer a more ringing endorsement of his former arch-nemesis from the Republican primaries.

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Cruz won 10 states during the primary cycle, second only to Trump, and went so far as to name Carly Fiorina as his running mate before exiting the race in May. A spokesperson for Cruz has not responded to Politico's requests for a comment.