Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) called for an investigation into Senator Thad Cochran’s victory in the Mississippi runoff, saying that Cochran’s allies should be prosecuted for voter fraud if the allegations from tea-party challenger Chris McDaniel are proven true.

“I very much hope that no Republican was involved in voter fraud,” Cruz, the vice chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee — an organization tasked with protecting incumbents such as Cochran — told radio host Mark Levin Monday night. “These allegations need to be vigorously investigated, and anyone involved in criminal conduct should be prosecuted. The voters of Mississippi deserve to know the truth.”

Tea-party candidate Chris McDaniel has continued to fight after Cochran pulled out a surprising victory in the June 24 runoff. “As we’ve gone through this process, we are surprised by the amount of evidence that continues to come forward that shows us there has indeed been election fraud in this case,” McDaniel’s lawyer, Mitch Tyner, told reporters. “I know there are several thousand that are absolute ineligible voters.”

Cochran spokesman Jordan Russell dismissed the charges. “The county by county results reported thus far are revealing an extremely low number of crossover votes from the June 24th election,” Russell told the Clarion Ledger. “As the process moves forward, the conversation is shifting from wild, baseless accusations to hard facts. As we have said from the beginning, the run-off results are clear: the majority of Mississippians voted for Senator Thad Cochran.”

Cruz also criticized the tactics used to get eligible voters to the polls. “What the D.C. machine did was not try to grow the party,” he told Levin. “Instead, the ads they ran were racially charged, false attacks and they were explicit promises to expand the welfare state.”