Miss. GOP tells McDaniel to fight vote in court

BY JEFF AMY
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi’s state Republican Party is refusing to hear challenger Chris McDaniel’s effort to overturn his June 24 GOP runoff loss to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, saying McDaniel would do better to take his challenge to court.

In a Wednesday letter to McDaniel’s lawyer, state Republican Party Chairman Joe Nosef said the party would have to hear the contest in one day before McDaniel would face a deadline to move into court, and that wasn’t enough time.

Nosef writes a court is needed to ensure a “prudent” review.

McDaniel, a state senator from Ellisville whose campaign was backed by the tea party, asked Monday that the party declare him its nominee, saying Cochran’s 7,667-vote victory in the runoff stemmed from Democratic voters who illegally cast runoff ballots for the six-term incumbent.