On The Mississippi Primary Result

Yesterday I wrote:

As I write this polls are about to open in Mississippi.  It is likely that it will be Thad Cochran's last campaign as a candidate. In the weeks since the runoff campaign began, the incumbent Cochran has been reaching out to Democrats to sway the primary in his favor, it is his last best hope.  But in a primary runoff generally it's the most passionate voters who turn out...in Mississippi at this time those most likely voters will be conservatives. The prediction here is that Cochran's Democratic party reach out won't be enough.

So what happened (besides the fact I was wrong)?

For one thing his reach out to Democrats was enough.

I can't think of another time in history when when the turnout for a runoff has been higher than that of the primary. Over 61K more voters voted last night vs the June 3 primary.  Many of them were Democrats.  That turn-out was incredible. Cochran won by 6K.

I can't think of another time when an incumbent lost in the primary but won in the run off.

In the end like it or not Cochran won by expanding his voter base in an unprecedented way. He won fair and square. But I am not happy with him for making me wrong.