JACKSON, Miss. — Incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran and tea party-backed Chris McDaniel remain neck and neck in the Republican primary for Cochran’s U.S. Senate seat.
As of 11:20 p.m. Tuesday and with 96.5 percent of precincts reporting, McDaniel led with 146,913 votes (49.5 percent) to Cochran’s 145,424 votes (49 percent), according to the Associated Press.
If neither receives more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff on June 24th.
The contest between the two has been closely watched, since McDaniel is a tea party member and Cochran has held onto his seat for 42 years.
Leading up to the primary, both ran attack ads. Some even say the race for this U.S. Senate seat has been one of the nastiest campaign battles in history.
There is a battle going on for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. Karl Rove, who represents the establishment, has stated that his goal is to completely wipe out the tea party in all of the 2014 primaries. This race in Ms will likely result in a runoff if one of them doesn't get over 50%. Whether McDaniel wins or loses, the establishment of the Republican Party would do well to learn that the Tea Party is not a party seeking to take over the Republican Party. It is more of an idea. An idea that our nation is a nation of laws and not of men, or rather, that is what it's supposed to be. You can't kill an idea and perhaps the Republican Party should take heed, the Tea Party doesn't have to win every race, they just need to march in the right direction. Something the GOP ceased to do, along time ago....
Tennessee will have their primary in August with the incumbent Lamar Alexander likely to win. State Senator Joe Carr seems to be his biggest opposition and though the talking heads will say Joe Carr has no chance, stranger things have happened.