Thread: Cochran's Outreach Effort to Black Voters Draws Criticism, Cheers

Cochran's Outreach Effort to Black Voters Draws Criticism, Cheers

Mississippi Senator's Narrow Win in Runoff Was Helped by Turnout in African American Counties

By JANET HOOK
June 25, 2014 4:20 p.m. ET


Wesley Murray, left, and Joshua Mitchell, both of Jackson, Miss., waving support signs for Sen. Thad Cochran.Associated Press


Republican Sen. Thad Cochran's effort to reach out to African Americans and other Democratic-leaning groups in Mississippi to salvage his political career has drawn an angry response from his conservative opponent. But to some other Republicans, and to blacks who were courted by the Cochran campaign, the effort was a valuable base-broadening effort that could serve as a model for the party as a whole.

"What the Cochran campaign did was open up the tent," said Jackie Bland, an insurance agent from Madison who is African American and campaigned door-to-door for Mr. Cochran before the runoff election for the GOP Senate nomination. "I have formed a relationship and alliance with Republicans I never had before."

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African Americans, traditionally a solid Democratic voting bloc, proved to be a crucial element in Mr. Cochran's narrow victory Tuesday over tea party-backed Chris McDaniel, three weeks after he was outpolled by Mr. McDaniel in the party's first round of primary balloting on June 3. The race was forced into a runoff because neither candidate drew 50% of the vote.

Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), the former 2008 GOP presidential nominee, who campaigned with Mr. Cochran the day before the runoff, said it was an encouraging sign that Democrats crossed over to support Mr. Cochran.

"Our message is: We want to expand the base of our party," said Mr. McCain.

But the Cochran strategy outraged Mr. McDaniel and his allies in the tea party movement, who argued that the senator's outreach to more-liberal voters confirmed the criticism that Mr. Cochran was not conservative enough to be the GOP nominee in the deep-red state.

Speaking to his supporters Tuesday night, Mr. McDaniel accused Mr. Cochran of betraying the party "by once again compromising, by once again reaching across the aisle, by once again abandoning the conservative movement."

He suggested that the effort might have run afoul of the law. Under Mississippi law, anyone regardless of party was allowed to vote in the GOP runoff, except for people who voted in the Democratic primary June 3. Another provision of state law makes it illegal for people to vote in the runoff if they do intend to support the party's nominee in the fall, but that provision is considered difficult to enforce.

Rickey Cole, chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, said many Democrats were receptive to Mr. Cochran's pitch about the value of the federal aid he helped deliver. In addition, he said, some Democrats were motived to vote by a "fear factor'' created by Mr. McDaniel's aggressively conservative stances.

Without exit polls, it is not possible to say how many blacks or Democrats voted for Mr. Cochran. But a Wall Street Journal analysis of county voting data supports the idea that the black vote was important to the result.


Based on vote data as of Wednesday morning.

In 25 Mississippi counties, the African American population is above 50%. Mr. Cochran won 22 of those counties. Equally important, those counties saw an especially large uptick in voter turnout—a 39% increase—on Tuesday, compared to the June 3 election. In Hinds County alone, where the population is 68% African American, votes cast there were up by more than 8,200.

By contrast, voter turnout rose by 17% in the state's 57 other counties. Mr. McDaniel won a majority of votes in those counties, but the margin was far narrower than was Mr. Cochran's victory margins in the majority-black counties.

None of this proves that African American voters were a main force behind Mr. Cochran's victory. But in an election that came down to less than 7,000 votes, the higher turnout and improved margins for Mr. Cochran in the state's most-heavily black counties suggests that the African-American vote was a big factor.

Outreach to blacks and other Democratic-leaning groups was part the effort by the Cochran campaign and the national GOP establishment to retool the senator's lackadaisical pre-primary campaign strategy, which critics had said reflected complacency.

Henry Barbour, founder of a pro-Cochran political action committee, launched a get-out-the-vote drive that focused first on rousing Republicans who supported Mr. Cochran but did not vote on June 3 because they did not think he was in trouble. But Mr. Barbour also to reached out to people, white and black, who never before had voted in a Republican primary.

"It's very good for our party, and very good for our state," said Mr. Barbour. "I want to have a bigger, broader Republican party but one that is grounded in conservative principles.''

To support Mr. Cochran, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent 45 volunteers to the state to knock on the doors of some 50,000 voters. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ran a splashy television ad featuring the endorsement of former NFL quarterback Brett Favre.

Mr. McDaniel's supporters smelled political mischief. They believed some Democrats were voting in the GOP primary just to foil his candidacy and were still planning to vote for the Democratic candidate, former Rep. Travis Childers, in the fall election.

Ms. Bland said she planned to vote for Mr. Cochran in the fall, even though she had voted in the Democratic primary June 3 and so wasn't eligible to vote for Mr. Cochran in the runoff. She said that she had not considered voting in the GOP primary at first, but she stepped up to volunteer for Mr. Cochran when he faced defeat.

"We as African Americans have never been invited or asked to participate in the Republican Party," Ms. Bland said. "I voted for the Democratic candidate thinking the Republican Party would take care of itself and Thad would come out the winner."

—Dante Chinni contributed to this article.
Write to Janet Hook at janet.hook@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/articles/cochr...ers-1403727654

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