The Central Mississippi Tea Party hosted a press conference at the Capital Wednesday to announce they’re support of Sen. Chris McDaniel in the U.S. Senate race. Their message came with an urging of the Governor to appoint McDaniel to Sen. Thad Cochran’s seat, since Cochran announced he would step down on April 1, 2018.
The press conference began with remarks from Reverend C.L. Bryant, Senior Fellow, Freedom Works in Washington, D.C.
“We are here in the Capitol of the great state of Mississippi today to make an appeal to Governor Phil Bryant in the appointment of Chris McDaniel to fill the seat of Thad Cochran. The question is folks, not why Chris McDaniel, but why not?” said Rev. Bryant.
Rev. Bryant went on to say that Gov. Bryant ran on a platform of “Already Taxed Enough,” a TEA Party platform, a grassroots governor, so why not appoint Sen. Cochran’s seat to someone like Chris McDaniel who they believe embodies those values.
Tea Party representatives presented their cases on why McDaniel would be best for the seat and their belief that the majority of Mississippians are ready for a change in representation of the GOP.
When asked what the organization will do in the event that McDaniel does not get the appointment, or beat Sen. Wicker in that race, they said this:
The MS Central Tea Party made their plea to the Governor today to appoint @senatormcdaniel to @SenThadCochran Senate Seat. When asked who the party would support in the event McDaniel does NOT get appointed this is what they said, WATCH BELOW #mslegpic.twitter.com/RvouStVvwh
— Yall Politics (@MSyallpolitics) March 14, 2018
Sen. McDaniel was not at the press conference. When asked if he had been contacted by the Tea Party, Laura Van Overschelde said they had sent him an email about the press conference but didn’t know if he had seen it yet.