Senate hopeful and small-town Mississippian Chris McDaniel, who’s facing a runoff with incumbent Thad Cochran in the coming days, is casting himself as the candidate who can restore the nation to its Founding Father roots and, basically, save the Republic.
“There are millions of us who feel like strangers in this land, an older America passing away, a new America rising to take its place,” Mr. McDaniel said, during a recent campaign speech, Breitbart reported. “We recoil from that culture. It’s foreign to us. It’s alien to us. … It’s time to stand and fight. It’s time to defend our way of life again.”
The 41-year-old lawyer, who currently serves as a state senator but has received the backing of tea party types, including former Gov. Sarah Palin, said that Sen. Thad Cochran is to blame for the current state of America, largely because he’s “been silent for too long,” he said, Breitbart reported.
Mr. McDaniel gave kudos to Mr. Cochran for being a “Mississippi gentleman,” but also said voters on June 24 should select him instead — largely because it’s time and an opportunity “for our generation to save the Republic,” he said, Breitbart reported.
Mr. McDaniel has painted Mr. Cochran as part of Washington’s $17 trillion debt problem and as weak on opposing Obamacare. And the message seems to be resonating. Mr. McDaniel nearly unseated Mr. Cochran during the June 3 vote.
“I don’t have anything bad to say about Thad Cochran, but Chris is just as fine a fella as you’d want to meet,” said 84-year-old Vern Getty, an Ellisville constituent, in Breitbart.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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