Chris McDaniel has fought the results of the election from the moment he lost the Republican run-off to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran by nearly 8,000 votes on June 24. Photo by Trip Burns.
On Oct. 24, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled against state Sen. McDaniel, saying that he did indeed miss the 20-day filing deadline for his election challenge in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
The state GOP certified McDaniel's challenger, U.S. Sen Thad Cochran as the winner and he appears on the ballot against Democratic nominee former Congressman Travis Childers and Reform Party candidate Shawn O'Hara.
Writing for the majority, Justice Leslie King wrote: "In 1959, the Court ... through canons of statutory construction, determined that a candidate has twenty days following the primary to file an election contest for an office covering multiple counties. The statutes considered in 1959 have been reenacted without material change. Thus, under the doctrine of stare decisis, we find that McDaniel failed to file his election contest timely, and the trial judge did not err by dismissing the case."
Three justices—Jess Dickinson, Randy Pierce and David Chandler—did not participate in today's decision.
Read the court's opinion here.
McDaniel responded later to the decision through a statement.
"Republicans in Mississippi are still left wanting for justice after June's Republican primary was decided by more than 40,000 Democrats," McDaniel said. "Worse yet, the courts refused even to hear our challenge."
He continued: "But now it is time to turn the page and work to enact true conservative change in Mississippi and in Washington, D.C. ... It is my hope that conservatives in Mississippi will view this decision as a motivating factor to get involved in Republican politics so we can change our state for the better for future generations."
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