Chris McDaniel is keeping a close eye on the U.S. Senate race in neighboring Alabama as he mulls whether to mount his own Trump-style bid to challenge Sen. Roger F. Wicker in the Republican primary in Mississippi next year.

Sitting in his law office in Laurel, Mr. McDaniel, a state senator, said the political environment is “10 times better” for a candidate in his mold than it was three years ago, when he nearly toppled Sen. Thad Cochran, a six-term senator, in an ugly primary battle.

Since then, Donald Trump’s stunning presidential victory and Alabama Republican Roy Moore’s bid for a Senate seat have told Mr. McDaniel that the Washington establishment is still missing what the voters are saying.

Ford O’Connell, a Republican Party strategist who worked on John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, doubted whether the Alabama election will have implications for other insurgents. He said Mr. Moore had 30 years of name ID and a loyal band of followers.

“And, frankly, when you are an insurgent candidate, you just can’t buy that support,” Mr. O’Connell said. “In Mississippi, if Wicker decides he wants to run for re-election, and I have no reason to believe he doesn’t, the establishment old guard in that state knows how to circle the wagons and protect their guy. See Thad Cochran.”

Read more from Seth McLaughlin at The Washington Times

The gloves-off battle between Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, an establishment Republican, and his tea party challenger, Chris McDaniel, was reminiscent of a Hatfield and McCoys feud, with Cochran eking out the win.

Republican strategist Ford O’Connell tells "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV that Cochran, the underdog despite his 36-year incumbency, pulled out all the stops for a last-minute strategy change.

In a three-week time period, Cochran called on "every political marker that everyone ever owed him from Brett Favre, to donors, etc.," O’Connell said. "He had to fine-tune his message, and instead of pandering to the base, he decided to attack to the middle and basically tout incumbency in the fact that he'd bring home the pork."

The Cochran camp "increased the voter universe" via "an archaic rule that allows Democrats who did not vote in the Democratic primary to be able to vote in the runoff primary, even on the GOP side. So hats off to him. I have to say this was an amazing thing."

"I understand [McDaniel] thinks that this was underhanded, but politics is not a gentleman's game, and the rules were the rules."

Read more from Melissa Clyne at Newsmax.com

Establishment Republicans believe a successful night of primaries on Tuesday — in particular Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-Miss.) surprising defeat of challenger state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) in a runoff — effectively neutered the Tea Party for the foreseeable future.

Main Street spent $400,000 for Cochran during the primary fight, with $100,000 of that coming as a ground operation investment during the runoff period.

The Chamber of Commerce, Main Street, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a super PAC with ties to former Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour (R) all pitched in on the race, but were ultimately outspent.

Groups backing McDaniel outspent groups backing Cochran by more than $3 million, and Cochran had far fewer establishment-minded groups coming to his rescue than conservative groups that supported McDaniel.

Still, Cochran prevailed, even while running a decidedly unconservative runoff campaign that emphasized the federal money he’s brought back to the state as an appropriator and pitching for African American Democratic votes.

As GOP strategist Ford O’Connell, who previously advised Barbour’s campaign, put it, the Mississippi runoff results should make conservatives rethink their whole strategy.

“Sen. Thad Cochran was essentially left for dead, and yet the Tea Party could not get the scalp on the mantle it so desperately needed. So, it’s back to the drawing board for grassroots conservatives,” he said.

Read more from Alexandra Jaffe at The Hill

In an improbable ending to a wild race, six-term Sen. Thad Cochran (R) of Mississippi defeated tea party challenger Chris McDaniel in a primary runoff vote – and did so with a critical assist from Democratic voters, many of them African-American.

Senator Cochran’s upset victory Tuesday dealt a major blow to the national tea party movement, which had appeared poised to knock out a longtime Senate Republican incumbent for the third election cycle in a row. Cochran is best known in the Senate as a quiet “workhorse,” skilled at directing federal dollars to Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation.  

Just three weeks ago, Cochran’s 42-year political career looked to be finished. He had come in second behind Mr. McDaniel, a state senator, in the June 3 primary. Because neither had won a majority, the race went to a runoff. That’s when the Cochran campaign and key outside groups rewrote the playbook, aided by emergency fundraising by top GOP establishment figures in Washington.

Mississippi Democrats have their own nominee for the November election, former Rep. Travis Childers. If McDaniel had won on Tuesday, political analysts saw the Democrats as having an outside chance of victory in November. But with Cochran on the ballot, the seat is now considered safe for Republicans.

In Mississippi, Republicans have their work cut out for them in reuniting a party riven by the divisive spectacle of the Cochran-McDaniel primary. Nationally, too, the GOP’s divisions are as stark as ever.

“The narrative coming out of Cochran’s victory will be that the ‘establishment strikes back,’ ” says Republican strategist Ford O’Connell. “The duel between the Hatfields and McCoys of the Republican Party is far from settled.

Read more from Linda Feldmann at The Christian Science Monitor

Sen. Thad Cochran turned back a hard challenge from tea-party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel in the Mississippi Senate runoff race Tuesday, handing the party establishment arguably its biggest win of the 2014 primary season and boosting Republican hopes of flipping control of the Senate in the November election.

Mr. Cochran’s win was viewed as a huge blow to the national tea party groups and their allies, who invested heavily in the race in hopes of scoring their first big win of the primary season over a Senate Republican incumbent.

The Associated Press called the race for Mr. Cochran more than three hours after the polls closed. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Cochran held a 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent edge over Mr. McDaniel.

“It’s a group effort, it’s not a solo and so we all have a right to be proud of our state tonight,” Mr. Cochran told supporters in a brief appearance late Tuesday night.

Mr. McDaniel, meanwhile, refused to concede. He blamed the loss on “liberal Democrats” and slammed Mr. Cochran and his allies for “once again compromising,” “reaching across the aisle” and “abandoning the conservative movement.”

“The conservative tea party folks wanted a scalp on their mantle,” said Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist. “And in terms of marquee races, the Mississippi and Oklahoma U.S. Senate races were their last best opportunities this cycle. The narrative going forward will be ‘the establishment strikes back,’ but the duel between the Hatfields and McCoys of the Republican Party is far from settled.”

Read more from Seth McLaughlin at The Washington Times

Seniority was once valued in politics, but this year, incumbents are having trouble convincing voters that politicians get better with age. 

It’s an issue that was front and center last week in 76-year-old Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-Miss.) primary runoff battle with state Sen. Chris McDaniel, and was a driving force in 91-year-old Rep. Ralph Hall’s (R-Texas) loss last month. 

For both Hall and Cochran, it’s not just that their decades of service are seen as a detriment — questions about the effects of their age are popping up, too. 

Cochran might have given his detractors more fuel for those charges over the past few weeks. After giving an interview on Wednesday commenting on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) stunning primary loss last week, Cochran, in a separate interview on Thursday, seemed unaware of the upset or its significance. It was one of a series of such moments in the race during which Cochran appeared confused or forgetful concerning campaign issues.

Though McDaniel’s team hasn’t overtly pushed the issue, Cochran’s own comments have made it hard to ignore, even prior to his statements on Cantor last week.

Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist who has worked in Mississippi before, said that McDaniel’s team has to be careful in how it uses the issue in the race, lest it provoke some “sympathy votes” for the well-liked Cochran. 

But McDaniel’s team hasn’t had to mention it outright, because Cochran, unlike Hall, has drawn negative attention to the age issue with his own comments. 

And it’s there that the incumbent could make the argument for McDaniel’s team, O’Connell said. 

“That is precisely the connection that the McDaniel campaign wants Mississippi runoff voters to make — the idea is, Thad’s a good guy; he’s served well, but it’s time to turn over the reins,” O’Connell said.

Read more from Alexandra Jaffe at The Hill

Mississippi appears headed for a runoff in its donnybrook of a GOP Senate primary. That’s bad news for the Republican establishment, good news for the tea party – and cause for Democratic hope in November, despite the state’s deep-red hue.

Tea party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel leads six-term Sen. Thad Cochran by just over 2,000 votes, with 99.5 percent of precincts reporting as of Wednesday morning. More important, with a third candidate taking a sliver of the vote, neither of the top two candidates won a majority. If that result holds, Mr. McDaniel and Senator Cochran will go head-to-head in a runoff June 24.

“In a runoff it is hard to see how McDaniel is not a slight favorite, as his supporters are driven by something Cochran’s aren’t – excitement,” says Republican strategist Ford O’Connell. “Runoffs usually entail a much lower turnout. Therefore the candidate whose core supporters have more intensity tend to win.”

And the tea party is all about intensity. In addition, Cochran has appeared tired, especially compared with the youthful McDaniel. Cochran declined to debate McDaniel.

If McDaniel wins the runoff, Democrats will have a rare – if slight – chance of winning a Republican-held seat in a cycle that generally favors the GOP. 

Democrats recruited former Rep. Travis Childers, a Blue Dog Democrat who held a solidly Republican House seat from 2008 to 2010, precisely in the hopes that McDaniel would beat Cochran.

Democrats are desperately trying to keep control of the Senate and have far more vulnerable seats than do the Republicans.

Read more from Linda Feldmann at The Christian Science Monitor

Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran and insurgent challenger state Sen. Chris McDaniel were locked in a tight battle as the votes were being counted late into the night here in the marquee Republican Senate primary race of the night Tuesday.

The six-term incumbent faced the real possibility of being forced into a politically perilous run-off June 24 as the result could have a major impact on Republican hopes of recapturing the Senate in November.

To win the nomination outright, a candidate needed to secure 50 percent of the vote. With 86 percent of the precincts reporting late Tuesday evening, Mr. Cochran trailed with 48.4 percent to 50.0 percent for Mr. McDaniel, with a third candidate taking the rest.

Mr. Cochran’s supporters hoped the incumbent could hang on for an outright win, fearing that a runoff later this month would favor his tea party-backed opponent.

The winner of the runoff will face former Rep. Travis Childers, who easily won the Democratic nomination and could benefit from an extended battle on the Republican side.

Ford O’Connnell, a Washington-based GOP consultant, said that Mr. McDaniel sent a message with his strong showing.

“Cochran has thrown everything at McDaniel including the kitchen sink and there is no question McDaniel is standing his ground,” Mr. O’Connell said. “Without Rose-gate this might likely already be over, because it increased turnout.”

Mr. O’Connell also said that Democrats are looking to expand the map wherever they can and are more likely to invest in the race if Mr. McDaniel wins the race.

“They are going to look for every opportunity they can to try to force Republicans to pick up seven seats,” he said. “So they could start to marshal resources if McDaniel won, but it is still a long shot even if McDaniel is the nominee.”

Read more from Seth McLaughlin at The Washington Times

The intense struggle for control of the Republican Party came to a dramatic head in Mississippi on Tuesday when Sen. Thad Cochran faced a stiff challenge from the tea party-backed Chris McDaniel in a nasty and expensive primary contest that was too close to call with a majority of the ballots counted.

With more than 95 percent of the vote tallied, McDaniel was ahead by less than one percentage point and the possibility of runoff in three weeks looked increasingly real.

Cochran went into the contest at risk of becoming the first U.S. senator to be toppled this year in an ongoing struggle between the GOP establishment and the conservative insurgency. With nearly all precincts reporting, McDaniel had 49.5 percent of the vote to Cochran’s 49 percent. If neither campaign can claim 50 percent of the vote, it would mean a second faceoff, on June 24. Late Tuesday, two counties had still not reported any results, according to the Associated Press.

The more than $12 million campaign tested the might of two starkly different Republicans split along generational and ideological lines. It came as tea party challengers elsewhere fizzled against more moderate GOP senators. The result, some Republicans said, was a coalition of national tea party groups desperate for a victory.

“They really want a McDaniel win because they want a head on the mantel,” party strategist Ford O’Connell said. Tea party groups “need to be able to raise money” to stay afloat, he added, “and to raise money, you have to show results.”

Read more from Sean Sullivan at The Washington Post

In two hotly contested primaries, age is creeping into the narrative and raising the specter of “ageism” as voters prepare to go to the polls.

In Texas, the oldest member of Congress – Rep. Ralph Hall (R) – faces a primary challenger 43 years his junior in a runoff next Tuesday, and the issue is starting to bite. Former US attorney John Ratcliffe said Thursday that he thinks age is fair game in the campaign to unseat Congressman Hall, who is in his early 90s.

In Mississippi, six-term Sen. Thad Cochran (R) is in his mid-70s – a spring chicken, by the Senate’s historical standards – but he’s still fighting his primary opponent’s story line that it’s time for new (read: younger) blood. Senator Cochran is also facing allegations he’s avoiding public appearances back home.

What’s more, Cochran’s opponent, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, is embroiled in a controversy over the actions of a supporter who allegedly photographed Cochran’s bedridden wife in her nursing home and posted a video online (since removed). The supporter has been arrested and faces felony charges. Senator McDaniel says he and his campaign had nothing to do with the actions of the supporter, a blogger named Clayton Kelly. The Cochran campaign is raising questions about the McDaniel camp’s denials.

Though the photos were of Cochran’s wife, the intent of the video was “clearly to make Cochran look like an old man,” says Republican strategist Ford O’Connell.

Read more from Linda Feldmann at The Christian Science Monitor