Chris McDaniel

Christopher Brian McDaniel (born June 28, 1971) is an American attorney, talk radio host, perennial candidate for statewide office, and far-right politician who served in the Mississippi State Senate from 2008 to 2024.

and received a B.S. with honors from William Carey University in 1994.

He then entered the University of Mississippi School of Law, graduating cum laude in 1997 with a Juris Doctor degree.

McDaniel resides with his family in Ellisville, Mississippi.

In 1997, McDaniel entered a two-year federal clerkship with United States District Court Judge Charles W. Pickering.

After leaving that position, he joined the law firm Hortman Harlow Bassi Robinson & McDaniel, becoming a partner in 2003.

His areas of concentration include litigation, insurance defense, corporate law, products liability, commercial litigation, consumer products litigation, mass tort litigation, complex multi-party litigation, legislation, Constitutional law, and civil rights.

He is licensed to practice law in Mississippi and Texas.

McDaniel is the former host of The Right Side Radio Show on WMXI 98.1 FM in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, nationally syndicated since 2006 by EBN Radio Network and Golden Broadcasters.

The show was broadcast nationwide on ABC Radio Networks and the industry standard Starguide III system.

It returned to local stations after McDaniel left the show.

McDaniel is a Republican who has served in the Mississippi Senate since 2008.

In 2010, he was named one of the top 50 lawyers in Mississippi by the Mississippi Business Journal.

McDaniel was named 2010 Citizen of the Year by the Laurel Leader Call.

In 2012, McDaniel led a delegation to the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas, for the dedication of a monument to the eight Mississippians who died when the fort was overrun in 1836.

A member of the Republican Party, McDaniel gained national attention for his Tea Party-backed 2014 Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Senator Thad Cochran.

After neither candidate received a majority in a hard-fought primary, Cochran narrowly defeated McDaniel in the runoff election.

In 2014, McDaniel ran for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Thad Cochran.

Although McDaniel was not initially believed to pose a serious threat to Cochran, he proved a formidable challenger.

Polling showed the lead swinging between the two and it eventually became a "50%-50% race".

McDaniel was vocal about his intention to repeal Obamacare and to work to lower the national debt.

The primary was considered a marquee establishment-versus-Tea Party fight.

Cochran's seniority and appropriating skills contrasted with the junior status of the rest of the state's congressional delegation.

The primary was called "nasty" and full of "bizarre" twists.

In May 2014, a scandal emerged when a McDaniel supporter allegedly entered a nursing home where Cochran's bedridden wife was living and took pictures of her.

The images were posted to a blog, intending to advance the rumor that Cochran was having affairs while his wife was receiving care.

Four people were arrested in connection with the incident.

The connection to the McDaniel campaign was disputed.

One of the arrested included McDaniel ally Mark Mayfield, who was vice chairman of the state's Tea Party.

In response, McDaniel said, "the violation of the privacy of Mrs. Cochran [was] out of bounds for politics and reprehensible."

Neither candidate won a majority in the primary election; McDaniel won 49.46% of the vote to Cochran's 49.02%.

A runoff election was held on June 24.

Despite trailing in most of the polls, Cochran won with 51.01% of the vote to McDaniel's 48.99%.

In the aftermath of the election, the McDaniel campaign claimed there were signs of voter fraud.

The campaign asserted that about 3,300 Democrats had voted for Cochran in the runoff.

McDaniel ran for U.S. Senate again in 2018, winning 16.4% of the vote in the nonpartisan, four-candidate primary.

McDaniel then ran for Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Delbert Hosemann.

McDaniel was born in Laurel, Mississippi.

He is the only child of Carlos and Charlotte McDaniel.

He graduated with honors from Jones County Junior College and the grandson of Luke McDaniel, a country and rockabilly singer.