AP: Unofficial Results Indicate GOP Sen. Cochran Wins 7th Term in Miss.

BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran has won a seventh term in the U.S. Senate.

Unofficial results show the 76-year-old incumbent defeated two challengers Tuesday – Democratic former Congressman Travis Childers and Reform Party candidate Shawn O’Hara.

Cochran is a former chairman of the Appropriations Committee and advanced to the general election after Republican primary that was the toughest challenge of his political career.

A tea party-backed state senator, Chris McDaniel, led Cochran and one other Republican candidate in the June 3 primary, but Cochran defeated McDaniel by 7,667 votes three weeks later.

McDaniel never conceded. Instead, he filed a lawsuit claiming the primary results were tainted by voting irregularities. A circuit judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying it was filed too late. The state Supreme Court upheld the dismissal on Oct. 24.