Chris McDaniel
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Christopher Brian McDaniel (born June 28, 1971) is an American attorney,
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
host, and
far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
politician who has served in the
Mississippi State Senate The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol ...
since 2008. A member of the Republican Party, McDaniel gained national attention for his Tea Party-backed
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Senator
Thad Cochran William Thad Cochran (; December 7, 1937 – May 30, 2019) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator for Mississippi from 1978 until his resignation due to health issues in 2018. A Republican, he previously s ...
. After neither candidate received a majority in a hard-fought primary, Cochran narrowly defeated McDaniel in the runoff election. McDaniel ran for U.S. Senate again in
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
, winning 16.4% of the vote in the nonpartisan, four-candidate primary.


Early life and education

McDaniel was born in
Laurel, Mississippi Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. It is located northeast of Ellisville, the first county seat, which contains the first coun ...
. He is the only child of Carlos and Charlotte McDaniel. He graduated with honors from
Jones County Junior College Jones College is a public community college in Ellisville, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and serves its eight-county district consisting of Clarke, Covington, Gree ...
and the grandson of
Luke McDaniel Luke McDaniel (February 3, 1927 – June 27, 1992), who also recorded under the stage name Jeff Daniels, was an American country and rockabilly music singer and songwriter. He was the grandfather of Mississippi state senator Chris McDaniel. ...
, a country and rockabilly singer. and received a B.S. with honors from
William Carey University William Carey University (also known as Carey, William Carey, or WCU) is a private Christian university in Mississippi, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mississippi Baptist Convention. The main campus is in Hattiesbur ...
in 1994. He then entered the
University of Mississippi School of Law The University of Mississippi School of Law, also known as Ole Miss Law, is an ABA-accredited law school located on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The School of Law offers the only dedicated aerospace law curr ...
, graduating
cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
in 1997 with a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degree.Personal web page – Biography
McDaniel resides with his family in
Ellisville, Mississippi Ellisville is a town in and the first county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 4,448 at the time of the 2010 census, up from 3,465 at the 2000 census. The Jones County Courthouse is located here, as is much of t ...
.


Legal and radio career

In 1997, McDaniel entered a two-year federal clerkship with
United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...
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. In 2010, he was named one of the top 50 lawyers in Mississippi by the ''
Mississippi Business Journal ''The Mississippi Business Journal'' is a statewide weekly business newspaper, located in Jackson, Mississippi. Each issue contains news coverage relating to the Mississippi business world along with regular opinion and freelance columns. Issues ...
''. McDaniel is the former host of ''The Right Side Radio Show'' on WMXI 98.1 FM in
Hattiesburg, Mississippi Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County, Mississippi, Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County, Mississippi, Lamar County. The city popu ...
, 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.


Political career

McDaniel is a Republican who has served in the
Mississippi Senate The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol ...
since 2008. McDaniel was named 2010 Citizen of the Year by the ''
Laurel Leader Call The ''Laurel Leader-Call'' is a thrice-weekly newspaper published Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in Laurel, Mississippi, United States, covering Jones County. It is owned by Gin Creek Publishing, which purchased the name and subscriber list f ...
''. In 2012, McDaniel led a delegation to the
Alamo Mission The Alamo is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Roman Catholic missionaries in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States. It was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, a pivotal event of t ...
in
San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...
, for the dedication of a monument to the eight Mississippians who died when the fort was overrun in 1836.


2014 U.S. Senate campaign

In 2014, McDaniel ran for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by
Thad Cochran William Thad Cochran (; December 7, 1937 – May 30, 2019) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator for Mississippi from 1978 until his resignation due to health issues in 2018. A Republican, he previously s ...
. 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 The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
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 asout 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. The campaign said it was investigating whether the crossover voting violated Mississippi law. A day after the state party certified the election results, Senator
Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...
and some Tea Party groups backed an investigation of alleged voter fraud in the runoff. Cruz also told reporters that groups aligned with Cochran's campaign had run racially charged ads designed to persuade black voters to vote against McDaniel. Of the ads, McDaniel said that the GOP is "a party that does not need to play the race card to win." In July 2014, the Mississippi State Supreme Court rejected McDaniel's request for access to poll books without voters' birthdates blacked out, which his attorneys argued were needed to identify fraudulent votes. In August, a Mississippi judge dismissed McDaniel's challenge. In October, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's dismissal in a 4–2 decision.


2018 U.S. Senate campaign

McDaniel originally declared that he would run against Senator
Roger Wicker Roger Frederick Wicker (born July 5, 1951) is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Mississippi, in office since 2007. A member of the Republican Party, Wicker previously served as a member of the ...
in the 2018 Republican primary. On March 5, 2018, Thad Cochran announced he would resign effective April 1, 2018, due to health concerns. Republican Governor
Phil Bryant Dewey Phillip Bryant (born December 9, 1954) is an American politician who served as the 64th governor of Mississippi from 2012 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 31st lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 2008 to 2012 and 4 ...
appointed
Cindy Hyde-Smith Cindy Hyde-Smith (née Hyde; born May 10, 1959) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Mississippi since 2018. A member of the Republican Party, she was previously the Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture a ...
to fill the vacancy created by Cochran's retirement. A
nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. ...
to fill the Senate vacancy for the remainder of Cochran's term was scheduled for November 6, 2018. These developments prompted McDaniel to cease his primary challenge to Wicker and instead run in the nonpartisan blanket primary to fill Cochran's vacated seat. McDaniel said, "by announcing early, we are asking Mississippi Republicans to unite around my candidacy and avoid another contentious contest among GOP members that would only improve the Democrats' chances of winning the open seat." He was the second candidate to enter the race. The first, Democrat
Mike Espy Alphonso Michael Espy (born November 30, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1993 to 1994. He was both the first African American and first person from the Deep South to h ...
, declared his candidacy shortly after Cochran announced his resignation. Hyde-Smith later defeated McDaniel in a nonpartisan blanket primary with two Democrats and two Republicans contending for the office; McDaniel received 16.4% of the vote.


2023 lieutenant governor campaign

On January 30, 2023, McDaniel announced his candidacy for
lieutenant governor of Mississippi The lieutenant governor of Mississippi is the second-highest ranking executive officer in Mississippi, below the governor of Mississippi. The office of lieutenant governor was established when Mississippi became a state, abolished for a few decade ...
in
2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...
, challenging incumbent Republican
Delbert Hosemann Charles Delbert Hosemann Jr. (born June 30, 1947) is an American politician serving as the 33rd lieutenant governor of Mississippi, since January 2020. From 2008 to 2020, he served as the secretary of state of Mississippi. Early life Hosemann wa ...
in the primary.


Political positions

McDaniel has
far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
political views.


Eminent domain

As a first-term senator in 2010, McDaniel urged his fellow state senators to override Governor
Haley Barbour Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is an American attorney, politician, and lobbyist who served as the 63rd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as chairman of the Republican ...
's veto of eminent domain legislation that would prevent government from taking private land for use by private companies. The override effort failed by two votes, but began a ballot initiative to amend the Mississippi Constitution. The ballot initiative passed the following year.


Healthcare

In April 2010, McDaniel led a lawsuit seeking to have the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...
(Obamacare) deemed unconstitutional.


LGBT rights and women

McDaniel has said of former Attorney General Janet Reno, "I'm not even sure Janet Reno was a woman". He has said that the Democratic Party is the party of "sex on demand, the party that supports the homosexual agenda". On January 22, 2017, McDaniel responded on Facebook to the
2017 Women's March The Women's March was a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, the day after Inauguration of Donald Trump, the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president. It was prompted by Trump's policy positions and rhetoric, which protesters called Misog ...
by referring to marchers as "a bunch of unhappy liberal women" and stated that he opposes using federal funds to pay for birth control and abortion.


Immigration

In 2007, McDaniel's immigration policy, as stated on his website, plagiarized text from a number of anti-immigration groups. McDaniel opposes a pathway to citizenship or temporary work permits for undocumented immigrants. He opposes increases in residency permits and work visas.


Views on sexual assault

In a September 2018 appearance on
American Family Radio American Family Radio (AFR) is a network of more than 180 radio stations broadcasting Christian Conservative Christianity, Christian-oriented programming to over 30 states.allegation of sexual assault against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, McDaniel contended that sexual assault allegations "99 percent of the time are just absolutely fabricated." No research supports this claim.


Southern secessionism and the Confederacy

In his 2018 Senate campaign, McDaniel promised to preserve Mississippians' right to decide the
flag of Mississippi The flag of Mississippi, also known as the Mississippi flag, consists of a white magnolia blossom surrounded by 21 white stars and the words 'In God We Trust' written below, all put over a blue Canadian pale with two vertical gold borders on a ...
, which at that time bore the Confederate flag. The flag features on McDaniel's campaign materials. McDaniel has spoken at conferences held by the
Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the militar ...
. In 2006–2007, he made controversial statements on reparations for slavery, race, and women on his talk radio show. In August 2017, McDaniel claimed on his
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account that Robert E. Lee, commander of the
Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
, was opposed to slavery. (Lee accepted "the extinction of slavery" provided for by the Thirteenth Amendment, but believed slavery was good for black people, publicly opposed
racial equality Racial equality is a situation in which people of all races and ethnicities are treated in an egalitarian/equal manner. Racial equality occurs when institutions give individuals legal, moral, and political rights. In present-day Western society, ...
, and opposed granting
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s the right to vote and other political rights.)
Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African-American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstru ...
.
The Making and the Breaking of the Legend of Robert E. Lee
. ''The New York Times'' (August 28, 2017).
McDaniel later defended his views on Lee in a Facebook post that was discovered to have been plagiarized from
Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them ''New York Times'' best-sellers. In 2012, D' ...
. The website for McDaniel's broadcast show "The Right Side Radio Show" listed the website of the
League of the South The League of the South (LS) is an American white nationalist, neo-Confederate, white supremacist organization, headquartered in Killen, Alabama, which states that its ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic". The group def ...
—a
secessionist Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics lea ...
"Southern Nationalist" organization—as one of his favorite websites. When asked about this in 2018, McDaniel's spokesperson said McDaniel "has never endorsed the League of the South and has nothing to do with them."


Personal life

McDaniel is married to Jill Tullos McDaniel, who was the 1995 Miss Mississippi USA. They have two children. McDaniel is a
Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The word ...
.


References


External links


Chris McDaniel for U.S. Senate
*
Profile
at Hortman Harlow Bassi Robinson & McDaniel * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McDaniel, Chris 1972 births Living people 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American politicians 21st-century Baptists American political commentators Baptists from Mississippi Candidates in the 2014 United States elections Candidates in the 2018 United States Senate elections Republican Party Mississippi state senators Non-interventionism People from Ellisville, Mississippi People from Laurel, Mississippi Southern Baptists Tea Party movement activists University of Mississippi School of Law alumni William Carey University alumni Far-right politicians in the United States