Tea Party-backed candidate Chris McDaniel said the Mississippi Republican Senate runoff was decided by ‘Liberal Democrats,’ after he lost to incumbent Senator Thad Cochran. McDaniel said conservatives ‘will find our backbone again.’
McDaniel has since last year also talked up the possibility of running for Sen. Thad Cochran’s seat, should the senior senator from Mississippi resign before his term ends, or waiting until his term ends in 2020. McDaniel has also talked about running for lieutenant governor next year.
McDaniel, a Republican from Ellisville, nearly ousted Cochran with a tea party-fueled primary challenge in 2014 that drew national attention. McDaniel unsuccessfully challenged his loss in court and never conceded the race, which he said was stolen from him by Democrats voting for Cochran in a Republican primary.
More recently, McDaniel was listed among Steve Bannon’s choices to challenge Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s establishment leadership. But Bannon’s ignominious departure from the White House as President Donald Trump’s chief strategist and his fallout with Trump appeared to put a halt to that movement.