Judge Hollis McGehee on Friday dismissed state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s (R) lawsuit challenging the runoff results in the Mississippi Republican primary for U.S. Senate citing that McDaniel was too late to file his complaint.
It’s the latest speed bump for McDaniel since the June 24 runoff, which Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) won.
McDaniel’s team, in response, argued that no such deadline existed in state law and that the decision the Cochran lawyers had been citing was for old elections. The law that included that deadline, McDaniel’s lawyers argued, had been updated.
McDaniel can still appeal the lawsuit to the state Supreme Court. If the Mississippi Supreme Court disagrees with McGehee’s Friday ruling then the case will go to trial.
In the immediate response to McGehee’s decision, McDaniel reportedly wanted time to decide whether he would appeal McGehee’s ruling.
McDaniel wants the weekend to mull whether to appeal dismissal to SCOMISS #mssen will have press conference Tuesday
— Geoffrey Pender (@GeoffPender) August 29, 2014
