The Mississippi Senate Primary Has Cost More Than $17 Million

FILE - This Feb. 4, 2014 file photo shows Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss, center, speaking during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republicans in the 2014 midterm elections can’t seem to reach an officia... FILE - This Feb. 4, 2014 file photo shows Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss, center, speaking during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republicans in the 2014 midterm elections can’t seem to reach an official party line on that the old Washington practice of writing the federal budget to benefit the folks back home. Sure, top Republicans like Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell _ now Senate minority leader _ and Cochran begrudgingly banned so-called earmarks more than three years ago. They were reacting both to the tea party’s rise and a push from conservative House Republicans like Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston, now a House Appropriations subcommittee chairman. Cochran is flanked by Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., left, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) MORE LESS
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A total of $17 million was spent in the Mississippi Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

That’s according to the latest calculations of spending in the race by the Sunlight Foundation on Tuesday, the day of the GOP primary.

According to the Sunlight Foundation:

• Total candidate fundraising in the race totaled at $5,640,083

• Total candidate spending totaled at $5,579,381

• Total spending by outside groups came to $11,665,911

So candidate spending plus spending by outside group brought brought total spending in the race to $17,245,292. That figure is especially noteworthy since Mississippi does not have one media market that ranks in the top 50 in the country, according to the Sunlight Foundation.

For outside groups supporting either Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) or his challenger, state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-MS), the race was a top priority. Cochran had the support of establishment Republican entities like the Chamber of Commerce while McDaniel was supported by some of the most deep-pocketed and influential tea party-aligned outside groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund and FreedomWorks.

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