On Tuesday night, a remarkable thing happened.
Principled underdog challenger Chris McDaniel finished ahead of 40-year Sen. Thad Cochran, forcing him into a runoff on June 24. This kind of Senate primary upset has only happened twice since the inception of the tea party movement in 2009, once in Utah (2010) and in Indiana (2012).
While McDaniel’s principled message of limited government certainly contributed towards his success, a runoff would not have been possible without the dedicated ground game of grassroots activists across the state. Thousands of enthusiastic volunteers knocked on over 100,000 doors, put up over 40,000 yard signs, and organized over 100 grassroots events in the run-up to the primary.
These unrelenting efforts are what pushed McDaniel into the lead to overcome the entrenched establishment political machine. And now, that same network of volunteers will push Chris McDaniel forward to a runoff victory and into November’s general election.
