POLITICS 2014 ELECTION

Thad Cochran Beats Back Tea Party Challenger in Mississippi



11:21 PM ET

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is interviewed after a tour of City Hall in Olive Branch, Miss., May 30, 2014.Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

A win for the GOP establishment over the Tea Party

Sen. Thad Cochran narrowly won Mississippi’s Republican primary election Tuesday, prevailing over a Tea Party challenger in a hard-fought runoff vote that was seen as a proxy for the intramural fight between the GOP establishment and conservative insurgents.

Cochran, a six-term incumbent, beat two-term state Sen. Chris McDaniel, a former talk-radio host with strong Tea Party support, by just a few thousand thousand votes. The Associated Press called the race for Cochran a few minutes after 11 p.m. E.T. With 98.1% of precincts reporting, Cochran had 50.7% of the vote to McDaniel’s 49.3%. McDaniel had bested Cochran by a half-a-percentage point in the initial June 3 primary, but neither man won a clear majority, forcing the two into a runoff that culminated Tuesday.

The nominating contest drew national attention as it developed along clear ideological lines between conservative Tea Party activists supporting McDaniel and GOP establishment figures backing Cochran, mirroring the wider civil war boiling in the party. An incumbent with decades of experience in Washington, Cochran earned a reputation in his career for bringing federal dollars into Mississippi, something for which McDaniel supporters labeled him the “King of Pork.”

The election drew millions of dollars in outside spending from national entities like the conservative Club for Growth and Sarah Palin for McDaniel, and the Chamber of Commerce and John McCain for Cochran. The race also took some nasty turns, as voters were inundated with accusations and counter-accusations that flew back and forth in negative ads. At one point, a group of McDaniel supporters were caught taking pictures of Cochran’s ailing wife in a nursing home.

Cochran will go on to face Democrat Travis Childers in November’s general election. Though weakened after a drawn out, internecine battle, Cochran, who has more than 40 years under his belt as a Mississippi politician, is likely to emerge victorious in the deeply conservative state.

http://time.com/2919685/thad-cochran...ssippi-primary