Former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi dies at 81

JACKSON, Miss. — Seven-term Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, who used seniority to steer billions of dollars to his home state of Mississippi, has died. He was 81.

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Cochran's final chief of staff, Brad White, said Cochran died Thursday.

Cochran was elected to the U.S. House in 1972. When he won a Senate seat in 1978, he became the first Republican since Reconstruction to win statewide office in Mississippi.

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He led the Appropriations Committee in 2005-06 and regained the chairmanship in January 2015, when the GOP retook the Senate.

Known for working across party lines, Cochran easily won most of his re-election campaigns. However, he struggled before winning a 2014 Republican primary over a tea party-backed state lawmaker who received financial support from libertarian-leaning groups that criticized Cochran as a big spender.