Miss. GOP won’t hear McDaniel challenge

The Mississippi Republican Party will not hear state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s challenge to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran’s primary victory because state law would not allow sufficient time to consider the evidence, The Clarion-Ledger reported.

In a letter to McDaniel’s attorney, Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Joe Nosef said the Tea Party candidate should move his challenge to the courts, explaining that seven days notice has to be given before the executive committee can meet.

“Therefore, if we sent notice of a meeting today (even before most committee members have even been able to receive all of the evidence), the earliest we could have a meeting would be August 13, 2014,” Nosef wrote.

{mosads}McDaniel, who filed a challenge Monday with the state’s party, says he should be declared the GOP nominee because Democratic voters illegally cast ballots for the six-term senator in the June 24 runoff. 

“Obviously, it is not possible for our committee of 52 volunteers to attempt to engage in such an exercise in a prudent manner in one day,” Nosef continued. “In fact, given the extraordinary relief requests of overturning a United States Senate primary in which over 360,000 Mississippians cast votes, the only way to ensure the integrity of the election process and provide a prudent review of this matter is in a court of law.”