Wicker Campaign Downplays Anti-Incumbent Insurgency — ‘Washington, DC Will Not Be on the Ballot for U.S. Senate in Mississippi Next June’

The man heading the effort to re-elect Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) to the U.S. Senate does not think much of a potential challenge based on the anti-incumbent Republican sentiment facing Washington, DC.

According to a Friday report by The Meridian Star’s (MS) Jim Brock, Wicker’s campaign manager Justin Brasell confirmed Wicker will be running next year and could face State Sen. Chris McDaniel, who ran in 2014 for U.S. Senate against Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS).

However, also in Brock’s report, Brasell dismissed the suggestion that next year’s U.S. Senate Republican in Mississippi would be a referendum on Washington.

“As much as Chris McDaniel may want it to be true, “Washington, D.C. will not be on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Mississippi next June.  Senator Roger Wicker will be on the ballot – the same Roger Wicker known to Mississippi Republicans as a stalwart conservative, who is very popular with conservative voters, including those who identify closely with the Tea Party,” Brasell wrote in the email. “It’s the same Roger Wicker who travels the state with his wife Gayle meeting with Mississippians every weekend and every day the Senate is not in session.  It’s the same Roger Wicker who traveled the country in 2016 working to defeat Democrats and elect Donald Trump and who now leads the Senate in support of President Trump’s agenda.”

The Mississippi Republican primary will be held June 5, 2018. If necessary, a runoff for the GOP nod would be held three weeks later on June 26 with the general election against the eventual Democratic Party nominee on November 6.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor