Sen. Thad Cochran holds off tea party challenger for Mississippi seat
Rangel, Cochran try to fend off primary challenges
WASHINGTON — Battling for political survival, six-term Sen. Thad Cochran appeared to have narrowly defeated tea party favorite Chris McDaniel Tuesday night in a bruising, costly Mississippi primary runoff that exposed deep divisions within the Republican Party.
With 92 percent of precincts reporting, Cochran led with 51 percent to McDaniel’s 49 percent.
The veteran lawmaker and his allies had highlighted his seniority and Washington clout in the three-week dash since an inconclusive June 3 primary, while McDaniel had argued that Cochran was part of a Washington blight of federal overspending.
In a last-ditch effort, Cochran had reached out to traditionally Democratic voters — blacks and union members — in what had become an underdog candidacy against the younger McDaniel, 41, his challenger from the right.
Voters who cast ballots in the earlier Democratic primary were barred from participating.
The Mississippi contest that threatened to cast aside the 76-year-old Cochran was the marquee race on a busy June primary day that included New York, Oklahoma, Colorado, Maryland and Utah.
In a special House election on Florida’s Gulf Coast, voters chose Republican businessman Curt Clawson to replace former Rep. Trey Radel, who resigned in January after pleading guilty to cocaine possession.
In a blow to the tea party movement, two-term Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma won the GOP nomination in the race to succeed Sen. Tom Coburn, who is stepping down with two years left in his term.
In the solidly Republican state, Lankford is all but assured of becoming the next senator.
A member of the House GOP leadership, Lankford defeated T.W. Shannon, a member of the Chickasaw Nation and the state’s first black House speaker.
National tea party groups and the Senate Conservatives Fund had backed Shannon, who also had the support of Sarah Palin and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
In New York’s Harlem and upper Manhattan, 84year-old Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, a 22-term congressman and the thirdmost-senior member of the House, trailed state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, bidding to become the first Dominican-American member of Congress.
Rangel, one of the founders of the Congressional Black Caucus, drew criticism last month when he dismissed the 59-year-old Espaillat as a candidate whose only accomplishment was to be a Dominican in a majority Latino district.
Two years ago, Rangel prevailed in the primary by fewer than 1,100 votes.