A large group of evangelical leaders has thrown its support to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in his bid to win the Republican presidential nomination for the November 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Led by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, about 50 evangelical leaders held a closed-door meeting at a hotel in Virginia earlier this month and selected Cruz to be their candidate after conducting several votes, the National Review reported.

The news outlet said the participants in the meeting had a difficult time choosing between Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. The evangelical leaders voted four times, all of which bore the same result—Cruz winning the majority vote but not the 75 percent "supermajority" vote the group earlier set as criteria for endorsement, the National Review said.

It was only during the fifth balloting when Cruz "the Fighter" gained the evangelicals' 75 percent vote, beating Rubio the "Communicator," the news outlet said.

The National Review said the evangelical leaders' endorsement is a substantial boost for Cruz's campaign.

"It represents more than a public-relations victory for Cruz," it said. "The senator has long said, both publicly and privately, that his best chance to secure the Republican nomination is to unite the conservative base behind him — and that the best way of doing so is to earn the backing of high-profile activist leaders in hopes that their endorsements trigger a cascade of support down to the grassroots level."

Donald Trump vows loyalty to GOP, rules out independent run

During the main debate that followed among the top GOP presidential hopefuls, front-runner Donald Trump pledged he would remain loyal to the party and not run as an independent, WND reported.

When one of the panellists asked him whether he is ready to reassure Republicans that he will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans, Trump replied: "I really am. I'll be honest, I really am."

He went on to say that he has is "totally committed" to the Republican Party and that he'd run as a Republican "no matter what."