Childers Overshadowed by Miss. Senate GOP Primary

MENDENHALL, Miss. (AP) — Travis Childers acknowledges he faces a tough task running for senator in Mississippi, a state that hasn’t chosen a Democrat for that job since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.

The former congressman rarely mentions his party label as he tries to unseat six-term Republican Thad Cochran in the Nov. 4 general election.

Childers has been outspent by Cochran and overshadowed by a GOP primary that was challenged in court.

Ask him if he supports keeping Harry Reid as the Senate Democratic leader, and Childers never quite says yes or no.

Childers voted against the health care overhaul in 2010, but he says the law has its good points. He campaigns on raising the minimum wage and requiring equal pay for men and women who do the same jobs.