Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel said in a Friday radio interview that he expects to find over 10,000 voting “irregularities” in his campaign’s investigation of the June GOP runoff.  

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., was officially declared the winner of that runoff by a margin of more than 7,600 votes. But McDaniel has not conceded the GOP nomination, and his supporters are examining ballots in every county in Mississippi to determine if there was any deliberate voter fraud or if anyone voted in the runoff who was ineligible to do so.  

On “Focal Point,” a radio show hosted by Bryan Fischer, McDaniel gave no specific timeline for the challenge, saying that going through the thousands of pages of election records would take time. Earlier this week, his campaign’s lawyer said a challenge to the results could be filed within the next 10 days.  

Once the alleged irregularities were all counted, McDaniel said, the first step would be “some review in front of the Republican Executive Committee.”  

“If they don’t give us any relief then naturally a court challenge will ensue,” he added.  

McDaniel took particular issue with what he deemed “race baiting” by the Cochran campaign before the runoff.  

“What they did, they hired Democratic operatives to go out into Democratic communities and call me a racist,” he said. “That’s despicable … It’s the way Democrats campaign. It’s the way liberals campaign.”  

“It goes to show that there are elements within our own party that have to be purged,” he said.  

He also attacked Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus when asked about the fact that he had not condemned the alleged corruption.  

“The Republican Party right now obviously lacks leadership, particularly nationally, because the silence is problematic,” he said.  

McDaniel said his efforts were for a greater good.  

“It’s so much bigger than me,” he said. “This isn’t about a candidate.”  

“We have to protect the integrity of the Republican Party,” which he said was “sacrificed on the night of the 24th due to desperation.”  

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