Christopher Brian McDaniel (born June 28, 1971) is an American attorney, talk radio host, and far-right politician who has served in the Mississippi State Senate since 2008. A member of the Republican Party, McDaniel gained national attention for his Tea Party-backed 2014 Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Senator Thad Cochran. 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, winning 16.4% of the vote in the nonpartisan, four-candidate primary. Early life and education McDaniel was born in Laurel, Mississippi. He is the only child of Carlos and Charlotte McDaniel. He graduated with honors from Jones County Junior College and the grandson of Luke McDaniel, a country and rockabilly singer. and received a B.S. with honors from William Carey University in 1994. He then entered the University of Mississippi School of Law, graduating cum laude in 1997 with a Juris Doctor degree. McDaniel resides with his family in Ellisville, Mississippi. Legal and radio career In 1997, McDaniel entered a two-year federal clerkship with United States District Court 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. McDaniel is the former host of The Right Side Radio Show on WMXI 98.1 FM in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 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 since 2008. McDaniel was named 2010 Citizen of the Year by the Laurel Leader Call. In 2012, McDaniel led a delegation to the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas, 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. Although McDaniel