Roger Wicker a No-Show at Cochran Rally

JACKSON, Mississippi — Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) was listed as a speaker at a campaign rally for Sen. Thad Cochran today but will instead be in Washington, D.C. for a relatively routine and non-controversial vote, his spokesman said.

An advisory sent to supporters from Mississippi’s Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves midday Saturday said that Wicker would join him, Gov. Phil Bryant, Cochran, and Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS) for a Cochran campaign rally in Jackson later today at 1 p.m. CT.

Wicker spokesman Ryan Taylor said, “Senator Wicker will be in D.C. tomorrow for votes.”

“I think somebody at the beginning got the advisory wrong,” Taylor said. “To my knowledge, the rally is still on.”

Monday, the Senate is scheduled to vote at 5:30 p.m. on cloture for Keith Harper’s nomination to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

A congressional aide told Breitbart News the vote is a “routine, known and non-consequential vote scheduled over a week ago.”

Last week, Wicker said he will endorse whoever wins the GOP nomination–McDaniel or Cochran–though he has endorsed Cochran in the primary.

Wicker leaving Cochran in Mississippi comes as Cochran’s Tea Party-backed rival, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, is making a final swing through the northern part of the state. McDaniel called in to Laura Ingraham’s radio program Monday morning for one last interview with her before the election.

“The people are ready for change,” McDaniel said during the interview after he and Ingraham discussed how former Mississipi Gov. Haley Barbour’s brother, Jeppie Barbour, has endorsed McDaniel over Cochran. “They understand that Washington is broken and they understand that we have to send new people up there.”

Ingraham brought up how McDaniel signed the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) pledge against amnesty and increasing legal immigration, something Cochran has declined to do. “Sen. Cochran has always been soft on that issue [immigration] and that’s precisely why the Chamber of Commerce is backing his candidacy right now,” McDaniel said.

Cochran has voted against major amnesty bills during his career but has received criticism from immigration hawks for his votes on a range of lesser bills, including voting against amendments to fund construction of a border fence.

McDaniel said he would represent Mississippi on immigration like Sen. Jeff Sessions does for Alabama.

“He’s right there across the border in Alabama and he’s fighting the fight–he understands. That’s probably another reason their [Alabama’s] unemployment rate is two points lower than ours: They have Jeff Sessions and we have Thad Cochran. At some point we have to fight back,” McDaniel said.