Chris McDaniel (Mississippi)

Chris McDaniel
Mississippi State Senate, District 42
Incumbent
Tenure
2008 - present
Term ends
January 6, 2020
Years in position 17
Party	Republican
Report an officeholder change
Compensation
Base salary	$10,000/year
Per diem	$129/day
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 3, 2015
First elected	November 6, 2007
Election date	November 5, 2019
Term limits	N/A
Education
J.D.	University of Mississippi School of Law
Personal
Date of birth	June 28, 1971
Place of birth	Laurel, Mississippi
Profession	Legislator
Religion	Baptist
Websites
Office website
Campaign website

Chris McDaniel (b. June 28, 1971) is a Republican member of the Mississippi State Senate, representing District 42. He was first elected to the chamber in 2007.

McDaniel was also a 2014 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi. He lost to incumbent Thad Cochran in the Republican primary runoff on June 24, 2014, but did not concede defeat. On August 14, 2014, McDaniel filed a lawsuit against Cochran, accusing him of encouraging voter fraud in the runoff.

Biography

McDaniel attended Jones County Junior College and William Carey University, and earned his J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

As of the close of the 2014 session, every piece of legislation written by McDaniel had died in committee.

Committee assignments

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, McDaniel served on the following committees:

2012-2013

In the 2012-2013 legislative session, McDaniel served on the following committees:

2010-2011

In the 2010-2011 legislative session, McDaniel served on these committees:

Issues

On The Issues Vote Match

Chris McDaniel's Vote Match results from On The Issues.

See also: On The Issues Vote Match

On The Issues conducts a VoteMatch analysis of elected officials based on 20 issue areas. Rather than relying on incumbents to complete the quiz themselves, the VoteMatch analysis is conducted using voting records, statements to the media, debate transcripts or citations from books authored by or about the candidate.

On The Issues organization logo

The table below contains the results of analysis compiled by staff at On The Issues.

On The Issues Vote Quiz
Economic Issues		Social Issues
Issue	Stance	Issue	Stance
Legally require hiring women & minorities	Opposes	Abortion is a woman's unrestricted right	Strongly Opposes
Expand Obamacare	Strongly Opposes	Comfortable with same-sex marriage	Strongly Opposes
Vouchers for school choice	Strongly Favors	Keep God in the public sphere	Strongly Favors
Absolute right to gun ownership	Strongly Favors	No "rights" to clean air and water	Strongly Favors
Higher taxes on the wealthy	Strongly Opposes	Stricter punishment reduces crime	Strongly Favors
Support & expand free trade	Unknown	Pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens	Strongly Opposes
More enforcement of the right to vote	Strongly Opposes	Maintain U.S. sovereignty from UN	Unknown
Prioritize green energy	Strongly Opposes	Expand the military	Strongly Favors
Stimulus better than market-led recovery	Strongly Opposes	Stay out of Iran	Strongly Opposes
Privatize Social Security	Unknown	Never legalize marijuana	Unknown
Note: Information last updated: May 20, 2015. If you notice the rating has changed, email us.

Election challenge 2014

See also: Legal challenges to the U.S. Senate race in Mississippi

Mississippi's 2014 U.S. Senate election gained nation-wide media attention when accusations of voter fraud in the Republican runoff primary between McDaniel and incumbent Thad Cochran created hostilities within the GOP, eventually leading to two separate legal challenges.

1. True the Vote filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Secretary of State and the Republican Party of Mississippi, arguing that they were denied access to voting records that should have been released based on the National Voter Registration Act Of 1993 (NVRA).
2. McDaniel filed a lawsuit against incumbent Thad Cochran, stating that Cochran solicited Democratic votes, many of which violated Mississippi election law.

Timeline of events

• June 3, 2014: McDaniel and Cochran competed for the Republican nomination in Mississippi's primary election. McDaniel won 157,733 votes to Cochran's 156,315, but McDaniel did not obtain the 50 percent of votes necessary to avoid a runoff election.

• June 24, 2014: Cochran defeated McDaniel in the runoff primary, with 194,932 votes to McDaniel's 187,265.

• July 1, 2014: True the Vote sued the Republican Party of Mississippi and the Mississippi Secretary of State, Delbert Hosemann, for failing to release the voting records necessary for an investigation of voter fraud in the Cochran vs. McDaniel runoff. The lawsuit argued that the records should have been released under the National Voter Registration Act Of 1993 (NVRA).

• July 3, 2014: McDaniel notified Cochran of his plans to challenge the primary runoff results due to illegitimate crossover votes from people who had voted in the Democratic primary and the Republican runoff.

• July 7, 2014: Mississippi Northern District Federal Judge Michael Mills issued a cause order expressing his belief that the True the Vote lawsuit should have been filed in the Southern District rather than the Northern District.

• July 8, 2014: True the Vote withdrew their lawsuit without prejudice.

• July 9, 2014: True the Vote refiled their lawsuit in Jackson, in the Southern District, adding election commissions in Copiah, Hinds, Jefferson Davis, Lauderdale, Leake, Madison, Rankin, Simpson and Yazoo counties to the list of defendants.

• July 24, 2014: Judge Nancy Atlas presided over a hearing for True the Vote's lawsuit, but did not make a ruling on the case.

• August 4, 2014: McDaniel confirmed at a news conference that he would challenge the runoff results by calling for a public hearing of the Mississippi GOP’s central committee.

• August 6, 2014: In a letter to McDaniel's attorney, Joe Nosef, chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party, refused to hear McDaniel's case in a GOP hearing due to the short amount of time they would have to make a decision. He suggested instead that McDaniel take the case to court.

• August 14, 2014: McDaniel formally filed a legal challenge in Jones County, asking to delay adding Cochran's name to the general election ballot and calling for a new primary runoff.

• August 15, 2014: The chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court appointed retired chancery judge, Hollis McGehee, to oversee McDaniel's case.

• August 20, 2014: Judge McGehee refused to grant McDaniel's request to prevent Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann from preparing the ballots with Cochran's name, on the grounds that McDaniel did not sue Hosemann.

• August 21, 2014: Cochran's attorneys filed papers asking that the lawsuit be dismissed because McDaniel filed it too late. The papers also stated that McDaniel should not have sued Cochran, as he had no control over the election process.

• August 25, 2014: McDaniel's legal team submitted a response to Cochran's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The response argued that challenges to a state-wide primary election do not have to be filed within a certain time frame following the election.

• August 29, 2014: Judge Hollis McGehee dismissed the election challenge. The McDaniel campaign scheduled a news conference for September 2, at which McDaniel planned to announce whether or not he would file an appeal with the Mississippi Supreme Court. McDaniel later pushed back the news conference, needing more time to make the decision.

• August 29, 2014: Judge Nancy Atlas ruled against True the Vote's lawsuit, stating that the requested voter information was not required to be disclosed under the National Voter Registration Act Of 1993 (NVRA).

• September 5, 2014: McDaniel's lawyer, Mitch Tyner, filed an appeal with the Mississippi Supreme Court, challenging the dismissal of McDaniel's lawsuit against Cochran.

• September 24, 2014: Cochran filed papers with the state Supreme Court asking that McDaniel's lawsuit be dismissed, as it had been in the Jones County circuit court.

• October 24, 2014: The state Supreme Court ruled to uphold the decision of the Jones County circuit court to dismiss McDaniel's lawsuit against Cochran. Four justices concurred with the decision, while two dissented and three did not participate. The two dissenting were Justices Josiah Coleman and Ann Lamar.

Republican response

Criticism

• Conservative columnist Ann Coulter called on McDaniel supporters to "get over Cochran." She explained, "When a U.S. president is using the IRS to terrify his political enemies, destroying American health care and opening our southern border to millions of future welfare-collecting, Democratic voters from the Third World, why is a dime's worth of money being wasted on trying to replace the Republican senator from Mississippi with a slightly different Republican?"

• Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann referred to McDaniel's lawsuit as a "distraction," adding, "There's no reason for Mississippi to be involved in this litigation, and I'm hopeful we won't be."

• Former Club for Growth President Chris Chocola stated, "If there’s clearly evidence of wrongdoing, that there were ballot integrity issues I suppose it would be appropriate for him to pursue those, but it would have to be clear. I don’t know that they’re clear at this point.”

• Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, who was among those being sued by True the Vote, praised Judge Atlas' ruling against True the Vote, stating, "In the political pandemonium of the last several months, our voters should be encouraged Mississippi’s laws protecting privacy were not preempted by Federal law or the U.S. Constitution."

Support

• Former Alaska governor and U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin posted on Facebook that she supported an investigation of voter fraud in the runoff. She wrote, "I told Chris McDaniel last night that I stand with his effort to get to the bottom of this – he needs to know average, but tremendously concerned, citizens want to make sure the integrity of last night’s results in Mississippi are verified."

Democratic response

• Travis Childers, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Mississippi and Thad Cochran's general election challenger, congratulated Cochran on getting McDaniel's lawsuit dismissed. Childers stated, "I congratulate Senator Cochran on his win today in court. The allegations of the past couple months have raised serious questions about the electoral process, and I strongly believe we must ensure that every vote in Mississippi counts."

Controversy

Voting in Democratic primary

After losing a highly competitive runoff primary to incumbent Thad Cochran in 2014, McDaniel challenged the results by saying that a large percentage of Cochran's voters were Democrats who had illegally voted in the Republican runoff after voting in the Democratic primary. However, shortly after the runoff, the Clarion-Ledger announced that they had found records of McDaniel voting for a Democratic candidate in Mississippi's 2003 state primary. Although McDaniel denied having done so at first, his spokesman later stated, "Over a decade ago, Chris McDaniel voted in a Democratic primary in order to have a choice in local competitive elections."

Elections

2015

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2015

Elections for the Mississippi State Senate took place in 2015. A primary election was held on August 4, 2015, and the general election was held on November 3, 2015. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was February 27, 2015. Johnny Henry was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Incumbent Chris McDaniel was unopposed in the Republican primary. McDaniel defeated Henry in the general election.

Mississippi State Senate, District 42 General Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Chris McDaniel Incumbent	85.8%	12,489
	Democratic	Johnny Henry	14.2%	2,065
Total Votes				14,554

2014

See also: United States Senate elections in Mississippi, 2014

McDaniel ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. Senate, representing Mississippi. McDaniel sought the Republican nomination in the primary on June 3, 2014, which resulted in a runoff on June 24, 2014. McDaniel lost in the runoff to incumbent Thad Cochran, but did not concede. On August 14, 2014, McDaniel filed a legal challenge against Cochran, stating that he had enough evidence of voter fraud to invalidate the runoff primary results.

U.S. Senate, Mississippi Republican Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Chris McDaniel	49.5%	157,733
Thad Cochran Incumbent	49%	156,315
Thomas Carey	1.5%	4,854
Total Votes		318,902
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State - Official Republican primary results

U.S. Senate, Mississippi Runoff Republican Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Thad Cochran Incumbent	51%	194,932
Chris McDaniel	49%	187,265
Total Votes		382,197
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State - Official Republican runoff primary results

Photos of Cochran's wife

Clayton Thomas Kelly, who ran a blog and openly supported McDaniel over incumbent Thad Cochran, was arrested on May 16, 2014, for sneaking into St. Catherine's Village, a nursing home, and taking unauthorized photographs of Cochran's bedridden wife in order to post them in an internet video attacking Cochran. He was arrested for exploitation of a vulnerable adult. McDaniel's campaign denied any involvement with Kelly or the video, and McDaniel issued a statement criticizing Kelly's actions and reaching out to Cochran.

Ads regarding photo scandal

• After a McDaniel supporter took photos of Thad Cochran's wife in a recent scandal, Cochran came out with a new campaign ad attacking McDaniel. McDaniel, however, denied any involvement or knowledge of the photos, and retaliated with his own ad.

Cochran ad attacking McDaniel

McDaniel ad in response to Cochran's attack ad

Endorsements

McDaniel received the following endorsements for his 2014 bid:

• Club for Growth
• Tea Party Express
• FreedomWorks
• Senate Conservatives Fund
• Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund
• Gun Owners of America
• Sarah Palin
• Gary Bauer
• Phyllis Schlafly and the Eagle Forum PAC

• Madison Project
• Coalition to Reduce Spending
• Young Americans for Liberty
• Ron Paul
• Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin
• Rick Santorum
• American Conservative Union
• Family Research Council
• National Association for Gun Rights

Media

• McDaniel received negative media attention from the Mississippi Conservatives PAC. According to the PAC, McDaniel was hypocritical and tried to take both sides on many issues, including tort reform, Common Core and earmarks.

• In his first campaign ad of the election, McDaniel stated his position on a few issues, highlighting his support for prayer in public schools and second amendment rights.

• McDaniel released another campaign ad in May 2014, this time attacking his opponent in the Republican primary, Thad Cochran.

• Citizens United Political Victory Fund (CUPVF) released an ad on May 21, 2014, attacking Cochran and supporting McDaniel.

• In an ad similar to one put out by Citizens United, the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund released a campaign ad attacking Cochran and praising McDaniel.

• The Mississippi Conservatives PAC released an ad attacking McDaniel for voting in the Democratic primary.

The Mississippi Conservatives PAC labels McDaniel a hypocrite.

McDaniel's first 2014 campaign ad

McDaniel campaign ad attacking Thad Cochran

Citizens United ad in favor of McDaniel

Tea Party Patriots ad in favor of McDaniel

Mississippi Conservatives PAC ad attacking McDaniel

2011

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2011

McDaniel won re-election to the Mississippi Senate District 42. He ran unopposed in the primary on August 2, 2011. No candidates ran in the Democratic primary. McDaniel won the general election on November 8, 2011, unopposed.

2007

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2007

On November 6, 2007, Chris McDaniel ran for District 42 of the Mississippi State Senate, beating Martin Beech.

Chris McDaniel raised $104,829 for his campaign.

Mississippi Senate, District 42
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Chris McDaniel (R)		10,261	60.9%
Martin Beech (D)		6,596	39.1%

Campaign donors

2014

Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2014 elections season. Below are McDaniel's reports.

Chris McDaniel (2014) Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Year-End	March 18, 2014	$0.00	$487,802.00	$(172,412.37)	$315,389.63
April Quarterly	April 15, 2014	$315,389.63	$474,584.72	$(323,789.16)	$466,165.19
			Running totals
			$962,386.72	$(496,201.53)

2011

In 2011, McDaniel received $90,298 in campaign donations. The top contributors are listed below.

Mississippi State Senate 2011 election - Campaign Contributions
Top contributors to Chris McDaniel (Mississippi)'s campaign in 2011
Mcdaniel, Christopher	10,000
Mcdaniel, Aleta	3,000
Herrington, Ronnie	2,800
Harrington, Ronnie	2,800
Blackstone Corp	2,000
Total Raised in 2011	90298

2009

In 2009, McDaniel collected $10,200 in donations.

His two largest contributors in 2009 were:

Donor	Amount
Chris McDaniel	$5,250
MD Eye Political Action	$1,000

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Mississippi

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Mississippi scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

2020

In 2020, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 7 to October 10. The session was suspended effective July 1, 2020. It had been previously suspended from March 18 to May 7. The session reconvened from August 10 to October 2.

• Business and Industry Political Education Committee

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues.

• The American Conservative Union

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].

In 2019, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 8 through March 29. Americans for Prosperity Mississippi Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2018

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show].

In 2018, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 2 through March 28. ACLU Mississippi Legislators are scored by the ACLU on their whether their votes on bills "promote racial, cultural, and economic justice." Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2017

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show].

In 2017, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 3 through March 29. There was also a special session June 5. ACLU Mississippi Legislators are scored by the ACLU on their whether their votes on bills "promote racial, cultural, and economic justice." Americans for Prosperity Mississippi Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2016

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show].

In 2016, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 5 through April 21. ACLU Mississippi Legislators are scored by the ACLU on their whether their votes on bills "promote racial, cultural, and economic justice." Americans for Prosperity Mississippi Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. Empower Mississippi Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to education. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2015

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show].
In 2015, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 6 through April 2. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2014

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show].

In 2014, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 7 through April 2. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. Empower Mississippi: Senate and House Legislators are scored on their votes on education bills. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

Personal

McDaniel and his wife, Jill, have one child.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Chris + McDaniel + Mississippi + Senate

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Chris McDaniel News Feed

See also

• United States Senate
• United States Senate elections in Mississippi, 2014

External links

Suggest a link

• McDaniel's office website
• McDaniel's campaign website
• Profile from Open States

• Social media:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
• Summary, biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Profile at Wikipedia
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at Follow The Money
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Collected news and commentary at The Huffington Post
• Collected news and commentary at The Washington Times

References

Political offices
Preceded by -	Mississippi State Senate District 42 2008–present	Succeeded by NA

[show]

Current members of the Mississippi State Senate

Leadership

Senators

District 1

Michael McLendon (R)

District 2

David Parker (R)

District 3

Kathy Chism (R)

District 4

Rita Parks (R)

District 5

Daniel Sparks (R)

District 6

Chad McMahan (R)

District 7

Hob Bryan (D)

District 8

Benjamin Suber (R)

District 9

Nicole Boyd (R)

District 10

Neil Whaley (R)

District 11

Reginald Jackson (D)

District 12

Derrick Simmons (D)

District 13

Sarita Simmons (D)

District 14

Lydia Chassaniol (R)

District 15

Bart Williams (R)

District 16

Angela Turner-Ford (D)

District 17

Charles Younger (R)

District 18

Lane Taylor (R)

District 19

Kevin Blackwell (R)

District 20

Josh Harkins (R)

District 21

Bradford Blackmon (D)

District 22

Joseph Thomas (D)

District 23

Briggs Hopson (R)

District 24

Vacant

District 25

Walter Michel (R)

District 26

Vacant

District 27

Hillman Frazier (D)

District 28

Sollie Norwood (D)

District 29

David Blount (D)

District 30

Dean Kirby (R)

District 31

Tyler McCaughn (R)

District 32

Rod Hickman (D)

District 33

Jeff Tate (R)

District 34

Juan Barnett (D)

District 35

Andy Berry (R)

District 36

Brian Rhodes (R)

District 37

Albert Butler (D)

District 38

Gary Brumfield (D)

District 39

Jason Barrett (R)

District 40

Angela Hill (R)

District 41

Joey Fillingane (R)

District 42

Robin Robinson (R)

District 43

Dennis DeBar (R)

District 44

John Polk (R)

District 45

Chris Johnson (R)

District 46

Philman Ladner (R)

District 47

Joseph Seymour (R)

District 48

Mike Thompson (R)

District 49

Joel Carter (R)

District 50

Scott DeLano (R)

District 51

Jeremy England (R)

District 52

Brice Wiggins (R)

Republican Party (36)

Democratic Party (14)

Vacancies (2)