When Senator Thad Cochran delivered his farewell address on the Senate floor last spring, it marked the end of an era, not just for Mississippi, but for national politics.
For over 40 years, Cochran navigated through the best and worst political climates Washington D.C. had to offer. Though politics had changed arguably for the worst in the nation’s capital in recent years, Cochran never did.
“Cochran would listen to everybody,” said Indianola native Anne Hall Brashier, who worked for Cochran’s office both as an intern and a staffer before his retirement. Brashier now works as a Military Legislative Assistant for North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. “He didn’t care if you were the most liberal person in the world. If you were from Mississippi and you came in his office, he cared about your issues and he listened. He didn’t try to interrupt you. He listened the whole way through, and asked thoughtful questions afterward.”
Cochran passed away peacefully in Oxford last Thursday and was laid to rest this week.
Brashier first went to work for Cochran as an intern in the summer of 2012. She saw him in action as the chair of the Appropriations Committee.
“He would always take time to get to know the interns and take us to lunch and really showed us that he cared and that he was proud to have us there on his staff, even though we were just there for the summer,” she said.
Over the years, Cochran fought for Mississippi, but he did not do it on the national news, nor did he do it with vitriol.
Most of the time, Brashier said, he was behind the scenes, working with friends on both sides of the aisle to make sure Mississippi got its due.
Cochran managed to get billions of dollars flowing into Mississippi, no matter the administration and no matter which party controlled the Senate.
Brashier said Mississippi was able to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina because of Cochran’s ability to create inroads with both the Republican administration and Democrats in Congress.
“Cochran was behind the scenes working with the administration and working across the aisle,” she said.
Over the course of the past week, Brashier said that everyone, no matter their political leaning, has had nothing but positive things to say about Cochran, mainly because that is how Cochran always operated.
“He found something to like about everybody,” Brashier said.
Brashier moved from Cochran’s office to Congressman Trent Kelly’s office, but has since moved on to work for Tillis.
No matter where she has been, she said she has always treated people in the same manner as Cochran, avoiding the pitfalls of Washington politics.
“If you are from North Carolina, I am going to listen to what you have to say,” Brashier said. “I am going to listen to your issues. You may learn something. You may change your view on something or find something out that you didn’t know before. Cochran used to say ‘You may be right.’ You may be wrong too, but he would say ‘You may be right.’ He was always respectful. All of us learned that from watching him.”
