Candidate Backed By Tea-Party Might Challenge Runoff Result

The challenger who lost a close runoff GOP race to Thad Cochran the Senator from Mississippi and is Tea Party backed, said on Wednesday he is contemplating challenging the runoff results.

Cochran was the winner of the race by just a 6,373-vote margin this past Tuesday night over Chris McDaniel a state Senator.

However, McDaniel never explicitly conceded the victory to Cochran instead, he complained of numerous irregularities that he implied were because of Cochran courting Democrats and the independents.

McDaniel announced through a statement that his legal and campaign team was looking into alleged irregularities as they determine if they will challenge the vote.

He said that if the GOP and the conservative movement were to co-exist, it was paramount to ensure the sanctity of the voting process is upheld. We must, added McDaniel be certain that the Republican primary was won by voters who were Republicans.

The results from Tuesday, said McDaniel, show that some of the members of the GOP willingly engaged in campaign tactics that are not becoming of Ronald Reagan’s party.

He concluded that it was no surprise why so many conservations no longer feel welcome in the GOP.

Leaders of the Tea Party said on Wednesday that the campaign operatives for McDaniel were weighing the possibility of a challenge to the vote claiming that Democrats allegedly voted for Cochran.

Of a big interest to McDaniel and his campaign was the voter turnout for Hinds County. The county, which Cochran won by over 11,000 votes on Tuesday was won by Cochran in the June 3 vote by only 5,300 votes. On June 3 there were only 16,640 total votes cast in the county, while in Tuesday’s primary over 25,000 votes were cast in the county.

The Tuesday runoff was held after both candidates could not clinch the June 3 primary nomination. The race was over whether Cochran who is 76 and first elected in 1972 to Congress could win voters over with his seniority and clout in Washington, over McDaniel and his supporters from the Tea Party.