Here's why McDaniel can't mount a November challenge

With Chris McDaniel losing an extremely tight Republican primary for U.S. Senate, questions about his options for a general election shot are being batted around.

So, can McDaniel make a run for the Senate seat in November as a third-party candidate or through a write-in campaign?

Nope, and here's why.

Mississippi has qualifying deadlines for all elections

If you want to run for office in Mississippi, you have to qualify by a statutorily set deadline. Candidates can either qualify as a Democrat or Republican via the appropriate state party or as an independent by collecting the requisite number of signatures and filing with the Secretary of State's office.

This year's deadline was Jan. 31. The only way someone gets on the ballot after that deadline is to replace someone who has died or is somehow deemed ineligible to run.

Write-in votes are limited

While you can write-in votes in Mississippi, they don't really count. The only instance in which they would count is if someone on the ballot died.

So mounting a write-in campaign is a non-starter in Mississippi.