Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Tuesday it’s “pretty clear” Sen. Thad Cochran won the bitter GOP runoff election in Mississippi, but added that his tea party-backed opponent, Chris McDaniel, has a right to contest the result.
“It’d be up to the people in Mississippi to determine the outcome,” the Republican leader told reporters at his weekly press conference. “I think it’s pretty clear who won. Senator Cochran ran a very successful runoff campaign and got the most votes. But anybody’s entitled to contest the outcome and that may well happen in Mississippi.”
McDaniel has alleged that Cochran improperly won the election as a result of voter fraud and has suggested he’ll challenge the outcome in court.
McConnell said those sorts of complaints are “dealt with at the state level.”
