The bitter GOP battle between Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel caught the attention of Hillary Clinton.
The likely 2016 presidential contender said she was “actually quite taken” with the Mississippi Senate primary and praised Cochran’s courting of black voters to win the runoff last week.
{mosads}”That’s what you’re supposed to do,” Clinton told C-SPAN last week on her book tour in Little Rock, Ark. “You’re not supposed to just reach out to those who already agree with you,” Clinton said, calling Cochran, who she served alongside in the Senate, a “great gentleman.”
Cochran rallied African-American support to edge McDaniel 51 percent to 49 percent in the June 24 runoff election for the GOP primary. McDaniel’s campaign hasn’t conceded and is compiling evidence to mount a legal challenge to the results, contending thousands of Mississippians illegally voted in both the Democratic primary and GOP runoff.
In the full interview that airs Saturday, Clinton slams those “who proudly say they’ll never compromise.”
“Now, I am a person of faith, but I don’t think any human being has the truth. They act as if they have a channel to the divine or to some other source of direction and that is just contrary to how democracies work.”
The former secretary of State also discussed the crisis in Iraq and reiterated that the U.S. must remain engaged globally, noting she has spoken “frequently” with Secretary of State John Kerry on a “number of issues” since she stepped down from that position last year.