On radio this morning, Mississippi State Senator (R) joined Glenn for the first time since his loss to incumbent Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) in Tuesday’s runoff. McDaniel explained why he is “disturbed” by Tuesday’s election results and why he has thus far refused to concede.
A day removed the surprising results, McDaniel admitted he “doesn’t feel much better” about how things turned out. McDaniel believes that Republican primaries should be decided by Republican voters, but, unfortunately, those are not the election rules in Mississippi.
“I thought Republican primaries were about Republicans,” McDaniel said. “I'm not pleased about the fact liberal Democrats decided the U.S. Senate nominee for the state of Mississippi. I think it's disturbing.”
As Glenn has reported, the GOP establishment and Cochran campaign stopped at nothing to ensure the balance of power was maintained. McDaniel was all too familiar with the questionable tactics.
“They did every dirty trick in the book, behaving just like liberal Democrats do. That was one of the things that was so disturbing. Here's a party I have fought for my entire life. I have been fighting for these guys… I have been out there doing everything the way they always wanted me to do it,” McDaniel said. “I find that strange, the very ideology that they are going to be proclaiming to fight against was the very one they embraced to put a conservative out of the race. That's wrong, under anybody's level.”
McDaniel has decided not to concede the race and is currently considering legal action because of “irregularities” in the voting.
“We are not going to concede because there were so many irregularities. We know if someone did vote in the earlier June 3rd primary on the Democrat side, it is illegal for them to cross over and vote. But we also know that if you have no intention of supporting the candidate, you should not vote for him in the primary,” McDaniel explained. “So where do we go from here? That's a great question. We are talking to lawyers now, trying to move forward the best way we know how. And we'll make some tough decisions here the next five or six days.”
Ultimately, McDaniel, much like many Americans, is disappointed with the direction of this country and the direction of the Republican Party. He hopes this race will light a fire under conservatives everywhere to speak out against the GOP.
“If you were to ask me if I'm pleased with the direction of this party, I will tell you absolutely not. I think conservatives all across the country have reason to be outraged with what happened in Mississippi,” McDaniel said. “The Mississippians hearing this, you can't be pleased with the direction of this party. You may take some consolation that Senator Cochran won, but how he won is absolutely improper from our standpoint.”
“Best of luck, Chris, and don't harden your heart,” Glenn concluded. “I was so angry, and a lot of America was really angry. But we win in the end, if we remain decent and good and righteous people.”