By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer

JACKSON — The polls have closed in Mississippi in a brutal, expensive Republican primary runoff that will decide whether Sen. Thad Cochran will be able to seek a seventh term in November.

Challenger Chris McDaniel is trying to become the latest tea party-backed insurgent to knock off an influential establishment Republican.

The race is expected to be close.

McDaniel led Cochran by about 1,400 votes in a June 3 primary but failed to win the majority required to avoid a runoff.

The 41-year-old state senator has argued that Cochran, a 42-year veteran of Congress, is out of touch and represents a free-spending philosophy the nation can no longer afford. Cochran says he wants to continue to steer federal money to Mississippi.