MS Senator McDaniel addresses Union Co. Republican Women Club

The Union County Republican Women’s Club held its January meeting Monday night in the circuit court room at the county courthouse.

Club officers for the coming year were installed during a ceremony early in the program. Vivian Dailey, president of the the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women presided at the installation

MS Senator Chris McDaniel

Elizabeth Skinner introduced the evening’s main speaker, State Senator Chris McDaniel of Ellisville.

McDaniel ran in the 2016 Republican Primary against incumbent Senator Thad Cochran. The campaign was bitterly contested, but Cochran narrowly defeated McDaniel in a primary run-off election.

Additional controversy occurred when McDaniel launched unsuccessful legal challenges to Cochran’s victory.

McDaniel was said in 2016 to represent the “Tea Party” faction of the state GOP.

McDaniel said Monday night that Cochran and the state’s junior U. S. Senator Roger Wicker, also a Republican,”aren’t voting like Mississippians.” McDaniel declared that the national Republican Party has “lost its way.”

There has been much speculation that McDaniel would challenge Wicker for the senate seat in this year’s Republican primary. When asked Monday evening, McDaniel said he has not decided whether to run against Wicker in the primary.

About 40 people attended the meeting.