According to a report published Thursday written by Alayna Treene, Tea Party Patriots co-founder wants President Donald Trump not to get involved in next year’s GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Mississippi.
Treene wrote that even though Martin says Tea Party voters have “unwavering support” for Trump, they might not be forgiving should Trump intervene in the race and support incumbent Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) over potential challenger State Sen. Chris McDaniel.
“I notice that the president has met with a few people, like [incumbent Sen.] Roger Wicker from Mississippi, I’m here to tell you that the grassroots in Mississippi have not forgotten what happened to them with Chris McDaniel in 2014, that election was really stolen from [him], and they remember,” Martin told Axios. “And I hope the president just stays out of that… for his sake… the grassroots don’t like Wicker at all… the president liking him isn’t going to make them like Wicker any more.”
McDaniel ran in 2014 against incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS). Despite McDaniel eeking out an overall win in the GOP primary over Cochran in a field of three, McDaniel barely missed capturing 50 percent of the vote and was forced into a head-to-head runoff with Cochran. Cochran won the runoff by two percentage points and was re-elected to the U.S. Senate shortly after that.
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