A tea party leader accused of dirty tricks in the Mississippi U.S. Senate race has died.


Tea party leader in Mississippi controversy dies

By Paul Steinhauser, CNN
updated 12:44 PM EDT, Fri June 27, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Mark Mayfield was one of three men charged with consipring to take photo of senator's wife
  • She was in a nursing home at the time of the incident
  • It escalated tensions in what was already an ugly Republican primary fight


(CNN) -- Mississippi tea party leader and attorney Mark Mayfield has died, according to his attorney, Merrida Coxwell.

Mayfield was one of the three men charged with conspiring to photograph Sen. Thad Cochran's wife in her nursing home and create a political video against the six-term Republican senator.

Last month's incident escalated tensions in what was already ugly Republican primary fight between Cochran and conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel.

Mayfield was charged a week a conservative blogger and supporter of McDaniel's primary challenge was arrested for obtaining a image of Cochran's wife, who suffers from dementia and has lived in a nursing home for 14 years.

In a statement e-mailed to CNN, Coxwell said that "Mark Mayfield was a client but more importantly he was a friend for almost 34 years. My heart is completely broken. This is beyond tragic and the people of this community and state have lost a good man and citizen."

In a phone call with CNN, Coxwell added, "It's not important to me how it happened. It happened today. Mark's wife called and texted me that Mark was deceased."

Coxwell also said Mayfield is survived by his wife and two children.
McDaniel narrowly edged out Cochran in the June 3 primary, but with neither man cracking 50%, the contest moved to Tuesday's runoff, which Cochran won by fewer than 7,000 votes.

Cochran's victory was aided by votes from African-American Democrats, who were actively courted during the runoff campaign by pro-Cochran forces.

According to Mississippi law, voters are not required to register with a political party, and anyone who doesn't vote in a primary election can cast a ballot in either party's runoff.

McDaniel repeated his vow to use every legal maneuver available to fight the runoff results.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/27/politi...ies/index.html