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Article snippet: Sen. MORE (R-Ky.) desperately wants to avoid. McConnell and other Republican leaders are worried about a reprise of last year’s electoral debacle in Alabama, when another conservative insurgent, MORE, capitalized on voters’ discontent with the Washington establishment to win the Republican primary, only to lose a Senate seat the GOP was expected to keep. McConnell favored Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) appointing himself to fill the vacancy created by Cochran’s retirement, but that hope crumbled Tuesday when Bryant ruled it out. McConnell is also mulling the prospect of Bryant tapping Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves or Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn to replace Cochran, according to GOP sources familiar with internal party discussions. Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith’s name has also been floated as a possibility. McDaniel, like Moore, has made running against McConnell and the GOP establishment in Washington his central political strategy. McDaniel blasted McConnell and Wicker on Tuesday for “blocking” MORE’s nominees in the Senate. “The fact is, Roger Wicker and the Senate Republican leadership are the reason for the delay in getting Trump’s nominees confirmed,” he said in a statement. When McDaniel announced his challenge to Wicker last week, he accused him of being “too weak to stand up to Mitch McConnell.” McDaniel is now thinking about running for Cochran’s seat instead of challenging Wicker, but hasn’t made a final decision. One Sena... Link to the full article to read more