An unlikely group helped Sen. Thad Cochran capture the Republican nomination in a hotly contested primary runoff, but the strategy that propelled him to victory is unlikely to make it into the GOP playbook. In the final weeks of the election, Cochran's campaign and allies turned to African-Americans and Democrats to carry the incumbent senator past his tea party challenger. Turnout shot up in counties with the highest African-American populations, but Cochran's success with turning out an unlikely demographic will be hard to replicate elsewhere, several Republican strategists said. CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Kevin Madden emphasized that each election should be treated as an independent race with its own strategy.
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Runoff turnout shot up in counties with the highest African-American populations
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"This is how you grow the party," head of a pro-Cochran super PAC said
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Several GOP strategists said Cochran's coalition was unique to Mississippi
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Democrats targeting minority communities hoping to increase midterm turnout
"Democrats should not rest on their laurels and assume that the African-@placeholder vote is theirs and the GOP should not assume that it is out of their reach," Perry said.