In the primary elections in Mississippi on Tuesday, one House Armed Services Committee member narrowly won enough votes to advance to the general election this fall, and a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee member finds himself in a runoff with a Tea Party candidate.
Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) won just 50 percent of the votes, barely escaping a runoff himself, according to media reports. He defeated Gene Taylor, who served in Congress from 1989 to 2011, when Palazzo unseated him. Taylor, who was a conservative Democrat before switching parties this year, chaired the HASC seapower and projection forces subcommittee at the end of his time in Congress.
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss), however, will advance to a runoff, set for June 24. Both he and Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel won 49 percent of the votes, with 50 percent being needed to advance to the general election in November.
Cochran, the vice chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee and six-term senator, has for months now been considered the most vulnerable incumbent facing a Tea Party challenger. But despite that, traditional supporters, including the defense industry, did not appear to increase their support for him in the form of campaign donations.
Cochran ranks just eighth in financial support from the defense sector in the 2014 election cycle, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. His $90,600 in contributions falls well short of other senators in much less competitive races, such as Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who has raked in $217,050, and Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who has $116,385.