Contributing author, photos and video from Chelsea Corona
Jackson, Miss.- Six weeks past the election and one week after Senator Thad Cochran accepted the nomination at the Neshoba County Fair, Chris McDaniel says the battle for the seat against Democrat Travis Childers continues.
Mississippians have not heard the end of the Cochran vs. McDaniel run-off. State Senator Chris McDaniel announced Monday at a press conference that he will officially file a challenge against the June 24 Republican primary election results.
The results of the election showed that McDaniel lost to incumbent Senator Thad Cochran by over 7,000 votes, but McDaniel’s campaign lawyer, Mitch Tyner, said they have found over 15,000 illegal votes so far.
McDaniel said, “They asked us to put up or shut up, here we are, here we are with the results.”
McDaniel and his attorney, Mitch Tyner, said they’ll file an official legal challenge to the Mississippi Republican Party Executive Committee.
“The facts are on our side. The law is on our side,” McDaniel said. “We look forward to our venue in front of the Republican Executive Committee. This is the opportunity for our party to take the lead on honest, good, transparent government.”
Tyner said a review of the election results by McDaniel supporters found 3,500 crossover votes, 9,500 irregular votes and about 2,275 absentee ballots that were improperly cast, among other voting problems.
“We anticipate after they review the challenge, they’ll see Chris McDaniel clearly won the Republican vote in the runoff,” Tyner said. “Now, I say that very assuredly because that’s what the mathematics show, that’s not what I’m arguing.”
McDaniel adds that they aren’t done looking through the counties yet; that Washington county hasn’t been properly reviewed, but so far he won by 25,000 votes.
McDaniel’s campaign wants an open public hearing just over a week from today. Tyner says the open and public hearing is so everyone can see that fairness was done.
Chris McDaniel says all of this is a fight for the integrity of Mississippi elections.
