McDaniel is not going quietly. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO McDaniel challenges runoff results

Nearly six weeks after he lost the Mississippi Republican Senate runoff, state Sen. Chris McDaniel announced at a news conference Monday that he will formally challenge the results of the vote.

McDaniel is demanding that the state GOP’s 52-member central committee vote next week at a public hearing to declare him the winner — while also retaining the option for a legal challenge in public court if that fails.


Sen. Thad Cochran was certified the winner of the June 24 primary by 7,667 votes, but McDaniel attorney Mitch Tyner claims that more than 15,000 ballots were cast by ineligible voters.

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Tyner said McDaniel is not asking for another election but to be declared the proper winner of the runoff. “We anticipate that after they review the challenge, they’ll see Chris McDaniel clearly won the Republican vote in the runoff,” Tyner said.

Experts say that McDaniel’s challenge is very unlikely to overturn the results of the election, but the state senator is not going quietly.

McDaniel alleges that many Democrats who should not have been allowed to vote cast ballots for Cochran. Mississippi doesn’t have voter registration by party, and any voter was eligible to participate in the Cochran-McDaniel runoff, as long as he or she didn’t vote in the Democratic primary on June 3. McDaniel supporters also allege that Cochran supporters bought votes for the incumbent.

McDaniel and Tyner appeared outside the lawyer’s office for an afternoon news conference in Jackson, with a raucous crowd of supporters gathered to cheer the announcement. As they spoke, a thunderstorm passed overhead.

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Asked whether any Cochran supporters should go to jail, Tyner said: “If I had the choice, yes.”

Cochran’s campaign has denied wrongdoing and says McDaniel is being a sore loser.