EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Six-term Sen. Thad Cochran defeated challenger Chris McDaniel in Mississippi’s Republican primary runoff Tuesday, dealing another blow to tea party groups trying to unseat longtime GOP lawmakers.
Returns showed Cochran with a lead of about 3,800 votes, holding 50.5 percent of the vote to McDaniel’s 49.5 percent with 98 percent of precincts reporting.
The race attracted $12 million in spending by outside groups. Cochran made the argument to voters that he was a solid conservative who would continue routing federal money back to Mississippi, just as he’s done for decades. McDaniel held up Cochran as the face of an out-of-touch Congress responsible for a $17 trillion national debt.
McDaniel finished 1,418 votes ahead of Cochran in the three-person Republican primary on June 3, but nobody received a majority to win.
On the eve of the election, McDaniel rallied supporters in Flowood, near Jackson, by railing against the establishment.
Cochran, 76, employed a more low-key campaign style, typically making short speeches that focus on his record of bringing billions of dollars to Mississippi for disaster relief, military bases, agriculture and research. He said he tried to work with all members of the state’s congressional delegation — one other Republican senator, and one Democrat and three Republicans in the House.
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