JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Republican who lost a primary runoff election to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran is taking the first step to challenge the outcome. 
 
 Chris McDaniel's campaign said it believes it has found about 4,900 examples of improper voting in the June 24 runoff. Most were by people who apparently voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and the Republican runoff, the campaign said. Mississippi does not register voters by party, but state law bans a person from voting in one party's primary and another party's runoff in the same cycle. 
 
 The McDaniel campaign did not release documents supporting its claim. 
 
 McDaniel spokesman Noel Fritsch said the campaign served papers Thursday to Cochran's son, Clayton, giving notice of the intent to challenge based on allegations of improper crossover voting. Fritsch said the papers had to be served directly to Cochran or to a member of his family. 
 
 Cochran received nearly 6,800 more votes than McDaniel in the June 24 runoff. The runoff came three weeks after tea party-backed McDaniel finished about 1,400 votes ahead of Cochran in a three-person primary that also included a first-time candidate who ran a low-budget campaign. 
 
 Cochran campaign spokesman Jordan Russell said the campaign is aware of McDaniel's notice to challenge, and attorneys are discussing it. "This challenge is baseless. It's not going anywhere," Russell said. "The voters made a decision, and it's over." 
 
 Cochran campaign adviser Austin Barbour said Wednesday that the McDaniel campaign needs to "put up or shut up" — either produce documents to support its claims or accept the loss. 
 
 The election challenge will be filed with the state Republican Party executive committee, as required by law. If the committee rejects a request for a new election, McDaniel could file an appeal with a state circuit court in a county where the campaign believes it has found voting irregularities, said state Sen. Michael Watson, an attorney who is working with the McDaniel campaign. 
 
 Fritsch said Thursday that any court filing could be a couple of weeks away. 
 
 The Republican nominee will face two candidates in the Nov. 4 general election: Democratic former U.S. Rep. Travis Childers and the Reform Party's Shawn O'Hara. 
 
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 Story highlights McDaniel tells CNN he plans to file legal challenge "any day now" 
 
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 The tea party-backed challenger who narrowly lost a Republican primary runoff in Mississippi to longtime Sen. Thad Cochran says he plans to file a legal challenge contesting those results "any day now." 
 
 State Sen. Chris McDaniel said Friday on CNN's "New Day" that "the integrity of the process matters. We believe on that night of June 24 there were thousands of irregularities and we've already found thousands of irregularities in the process." 
 
 McDaniel also defended his campaign's offer - announced Thursday - of rewards of $1,000 each for individuals providing "evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in voter fraud." 
 
 And McDaniel said "we condemn any racist comments what so ever," when asked by CNN anchor Kate Bolduan about a bizarre Cochran campaign conference call on Wednesday that included borderline racist comments by an unidentified caller who appeared to be a supporter of the challenger's campaign. 
 
 Led primary, lost runoff 
 
 McDaniel narrowly edged Cochran in a June 3 primary, but with neither man cracking the 50% threshold needed to win, the contest moved to the runoff three weeks later, which Cochran won by fewer than 7,000 votes. 
 
 His victory was aided by votes from African-American Democrats, who were actively courted during the runoff by Cochran's campaign and allied groups. 
 
 According to Mississippi law, voters are not required to register with a political party, and anyone who doesn't vote in a primary election can cast a ballot in either party's runoff. 
 
 Since the runoff, McDaniel has refused to concede and has repeatedly vowed to use every legal maneuver available to fight the results. 
 
 McDaniel alleges that some Democrats who voted in the runoff had previously cast a ballot in their party's Senate primary. 
 
 "Right now, we have found we have found more than 5,000 irregularities. There are more than 19,000 absentee ballots we still haven't seen yet," McDaniel told CNN. 
 
 Disputed claims 
 
 The Cochran campaign disputes McDaniel's claims, and numbers. 
 
 "The time has come now for the McDaniel campaign to put up or shut up. If they have hard evidence, bring it forward. But quit talking about exaggerated numbers that they know are not true," Cochran campaign spokesman and adviser Austin Barbour said Wednesday. 
 
 After last week's runoff, McDaniel's campaign dispatched volunteers across Mississippi to investigate the results in the state's 82 counties. 
 
 FreedomWorks, one of the anti-establishment groups that's been supporting McDaniel, dispatched activists to assist the campaign. 
 
 Separately, a conservative outside group filed a lawsuit in federal court asking for full access to the voting records in the primary and runoff elections. 
 
 Won't drag out 
 
 McDaniel said on "New Day" that the process "won't drag out too much longer. We have our people in the field. They'll be working all next week to find the additional irregularities that we believe are out there." 
 
 McDaniel added that "after that, we'll have our evidence together and move forward." 
 
 And he defended his campaign's use of reward money, "if fraud was committed." 
 
 He added, "If vote buying took place as alleged, we have an obligation to find it and root it out once and for all. There's nothing wrong with that process. It needs to happen for the integrity of the election process." 
 
 McDaniel pushed back allegations that he's contesting the runoff results to further his political career and pay off campaign debts. 
 
 "We don't have any primary debt, not one dime," McDaniel told Bolduan, adding that what he's now doing is "bigger than a campaign, it's bigger than a candidate, it's bigger than me." 
 
 'Join us in the process' 
 
 And he urged the Cochran campaign to "join us in this process. Why not go out there hand and hand and lets find the corruption if it exists." 
 
 But that offer didn't fly with the Cochran camp. 
 
 "It's obvious that Chris McDaniel doesn't care about the integrity of the process or he wouldn't be offering thousand-dollar bounties in e-mail fundraising blasts and flat out stating that the election was stolen and the election was a sham without any proof," Cochran spokesman Jordan Russell told CNN. 
 
 "So I think he needs to spare me the 'why won't they join us in protecting the integrity of the process.' Chris McDaniel doesn't care anything about the integrity of the process. Chris McDaniel cares about staying in the spotlight." 
 
 McDaniel condemns race comments 
 
 On Wednesday's Cochran campaign conference call, a person who appeared to be a McDaniel supporter asked "since black people harvested cotton, why is it OK to harvest their votes? Why is it OK to harvest the votes of black people?" 
 
 Asked about those comments, McDaniel said "we condemn any racist comments what so ever. But bear in mind, we have no idea who that person is." 
 
 He added, "You understand there are people out there we have no control over." 
 
 If his legal challenge to the runoff results is turned down by the courts, McDaniel told CNN that "certainly we'll respect the court's decisions. As to endorsing or going forward with Thad Cochran or whoever else, I'm going to have to make that call after all this is said and done." 
 
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 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican who lost a primary runoff election to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran said Friday he plans to challenge the results. 
 
 Chris McDaniel said his campaign found at least 5,000 irregularities in voting and that he will mount a legal challenge "any day now." 
 
 In an interview with CNN, McDaniel said what matters is that fraud be uncovered where it exists and that many Mississippi residents "are very angry" because they think their votes in the June 24 primary were nullified by fraud. 
 
 Most of what McDaniel is describing as irregularities involved people who apparently voted in both the June 3 Democratic primary and the Republican runoff. 
 
 Mississippi does not register voters by party, but state law bans a person from voting in one party's primary and another party's runoff in the same cycle. 
 
 McDaniel said he's pressing the challenge because, "it's our responsibility ... if the corruption is out there, to end it once and for all." He did say that if the courts side against him, he would accept the outcome. But he would not say whether he would ultimately endorse Cochran for Senate in the general election. 
 
 Asked if he had any regrets about the divisive primary campaign and aftermath, McDaniel said he regretted the last two and a half weeks of the campaign when "they called me a racist, they race-baited." He said Cochran's campaign engaged in "scare" tactics by saying that if McDaniel were to become the next senator, "welfare would be cut off." 
 
 An election challenge will be filed with the state Republican Party executive committee, as required by law. If the committee rejects a request for a new election, McDaniel could file an appeal with a state circuit court in a county where the campaign believes it has found voting irregularities, said state Sen. Michael Watson, an attorney who is working with the McDaniel campaign.
– The man who lost a Mississippi primary challenge to Republican Sen. Thad Cochran—but hasn't conceded—has confirmed reports he'll challenge the results. "We believe on that night of June 24 there were thousands of irregularities," State Sen. Chris McDaniel tells CNN, noting that his legal challenge will come "any day now." His campaign yesterday offered $1,000 to anyone who can find "evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in voter fraud," and he says his team has already found almost 5,000 irregularities, the AP reports. A campaign rep says the campaign yesterday officially notified Cochran's son of its plan to challenge the results.