On another note,
- McDaniel files legal arguments as he looks to overturn Cochran loss
(Excerpt)
JACKSON — A defeated Senate candidate in Mississippi is arguing that a state court judge was wrong to dismiss his lawsuit that sought to overturn his Republican primary loss to incumbent Thad Cochran.
Attorneys for the tea party-backed candidate, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, filed legal arguments with the Mississippi Supreme Court late yesterday, hours before a midnight deadline.
The arguments mirror what McDaniel’s attorneys had said before Judge Hollis McGehee dismissed McDaniel’s lawsuit last month —
- that current state law does not specify a deadline for a candidate to challenge a primary loss.
McGehee had agreed with Cochran’s attorneys
- in saying a Mississippi Supreme Court ruling in a 1959 election dispute set a timeline for trying to overturn a primary loss,
and that McDaniel waited too long to challenge results of the June 24 Republican primary runoff.
McDaniel attorney Mitch Tyner wrote in his brief yesterday that the 1959 Supreme Court ruling became irrelevant
- when the state Legislature rewrote election laws in 1986.
and order the judge to hold a full trial on the lawsuit.
- The suit had asked McGehee
- to declare McDaniel the GOP primary winner,
- based on McDaniel’s contention that Cochran improperly courted voters who usually support Democrats.
... Mississippi law says a new primary could be ordered even after someone wins the general election.
If that were to happen, a new general election also would have to be held.
...