Stewart Mills

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Stewart Mills

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2016

Education

Bachelor's

Northwood University

Personal

Profession

Vice President of Mills Fleet Farm

Contact

Personal website

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Stewart Mills III was a Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 8th Congressional District of Minnesota.

Mills was a 2014 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 8th Congressional District of Minnesota. Mills ran uncontested for the Republican nomination in the primary on August 12, 2014. He was defeated by incumbent Rick Nolan in the general election on November 4, 2014.

Biography

Mills is the grandson of Mills Fleet Farm founder Stewart Mills Sr. The company is a retail chain located in the Midwest. Mills has worked for his family business in various capacities since he was 14. At the time of his candidacy, Mills was vice president of the business. In October 2015, however, Mills confirmed that the family company was for sale. Mills has started various other projects, including an indoor shooting range and a television series. He has been a board member of the Minnesota Fraternal Order of Police Foundation and is the creator of the Louis Hostager Award, given by the Brainerd Family YMCA.

Education

• B.A., Business Administration, Northwood University

Issues

Political positions

Mills responds to Rick Nolan's comment regarding the dangers of assault weapons.

Gun rights

Mills is a strong advocate for gun rights, and is well known for a YouTube video from January 2013 in which he spoke out against Rep. Rick Nolan's position on gun control. Nolan, the current representative from Mills' district, wanted to crack down on assault weapons in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Mills responded with a video in which he compared the damage done by a shotgun to the damage done by a Huldra AR-15, saying that a shotgun was actually more destructive, and that limiting Second Amendment rights was not the proper solution to prevent school shootings.

Health care

Mills said that he opposed the Affordable Care Act and would replace it with a free-market system.

Same-sex marriage

Mills has not taken a position on same-sex marriage because "the state has already decided the issue."

Comments on ISIS

See also: ISIS insurgency in Iraq and Syria

During the 2014 congressional elections, U.S. military involvement in the Middle East became an important topic of debate among congressional candidates. Unlike many U.S. congressmen from both parties, Rep. Rick Nolan (D), Mills' opponent, warned against taking military action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Nolan urged President Barack Obama not to make a unilateral decision to mobilize the military without the consent of Congress. On August 29, 2014, Nolan stated, "American blood and treasury should not be made without the full consideration by all 535 members of the Congress of the United States." He added, "When we get ourselves involved in that conflict, then we become a part of the problem and the solution becomes ours."

Shortly after making these comments, Nolan issued a statement regarding ISIS. Nolan wrote, "I encourage them to employ the same intelligence resources – and the same selective, highly effective means they used to bring down Osama Bin Laden. Special operations of this kind do not involve U.S. troops on the ground, the killing of innocent people, or the re-involvement of the United States in another terribly destructive, expensive, open-ended conflict in that region.”

Mills disagreed with Nolan, stating, "Like it or not we have to play some role here. And for Congressman Nolan to take those positions, I think, leaves America in an even weaker position than we have been in the past. We can't lead from behind. We have to lead."

According to a 2014 poll published in The Washington Post, the majority of voters' views aligned more closely with Mills' than Nolan's on the issue of taking action in the Middle East. About 91 percent of voters believed ISIS to be a serious threat, and 71 percent supported the U.S. government ordering air strikes against the Sunni insurgents in Iraq.

Media portrayal

Mills' long hair caused a variety of responses from both the media and voters. Whereas some saw his hair as making him look youthful and attractive, others thought that it made him look immature and unprofessional. Regardless, it won him acclaim as the "Brad Pitt of the Republican Party." Mills was not concerned by the criticism, and embraced the differences between him and other candidates. In one interview, he compared himself with the typical candidate, stating, "I don’t look the part. I don’t shave every day, I have long hair, I don’t necessarily want to wear a suit unless I have to. I don’t feel comfortable with cookie-cutter molds of what is considered a traditional candidate." While this image could have helped him in his bid against incumbent Rick Nolan, Mills also ran the risk of voters focusing more on his appearance than the political message of his campaign. His solution was to focus his energy on a serious campaign, while letting others "promote the novelty of it."

Elections

2016

See also: Minnesota's 8th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as a race to watch. Incumbent Rick Nolan (D) defeated Stewart Mills (R) in the general election on November 8, 2016. This was a rematch of the 2014 race, in which Nolan successfully defended his seat from Mills by 1.4 percent of the vote. Neither candidate faced a primary opponent in August.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 8 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Rick Nolan Incumbent	50.2%	179,098
	Republican	Stewart Mills	49.6%	177,089
	N/A	Write-in	0.2%	792
Total Votes				356,979
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

Mills was a member of the NRCC's Young Guns Program in 2016. The Young Guns program "supports and mentors challenger and open-seat candidates in races across the country."

2014

See also: Minnesota's 8th Congressional District elections, 2014

The 8th Congressional District of Minnesota held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Challengers Stewart Mills (R) and Ray "Skip" Sandman (G) were defeated by incumbent Rick Nolan (D) in the general election. None of the candidates faced challengers in the primary election on August 12, 2014.

Minnesota's 8th was considered a battleground district in 2014. Nolan won his seat in 2012 with an 8.9 percent margin of victory, and President Barack Obama (D) won the district in 2012 by only 5.5 percent. Nolan was first elected in 2012, and representatives serving their first term are often more vulnerable than long-time incumbents. In addition, Minnesota's 8th district was redrawn in 2011, which could have significantly altered the ratio of Democratic and Republican voters. In 2013, Politico reported that Nolan was vulnerable in this competitive race.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 8 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Rick Nolan Incumbent	48.5%	129,090
	Republican	Stewart Mills	47.1%	125,358
	Green	Skip Sandman	4.3%	11,450
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	185
Total Votes				266,083
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

Race background

The National Republican Congressional Committee added Mills to their "On the Radar" list in November 2013. According to the NRCC, candidates that made this list were set to receive "...the tools they need to run successful, winning campaigns against their Democratic opponents."

Criticism of Nolan

Mills criticized his Democratic opponent, Rep. Rick Nolan, for voting against funding for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and against the Keystone Pipeline.

Endorsements

Mills received the following endorsements:

• Sixteen Minnesota state legislators, including Kurt Daudt, Michelle Benson, Sean Nienow and Carrie Ruud
• The Minnesota Gun Owners PAC
• Minnesota's 8th Congressional District Republicans

Media

• Mills released his first television ad in May 2014, discussing his history with Mills Fleet Farm and how his experience has affected his views on Obamacare.

• In a June 2014 campaign ad, Mills' wife praises him for his community involvement, including the "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" event to raise money for victims of domestic violence.

• In July 2014, the House Majority PAC released an ad attacking Mills for arguing against raising the minimum wage and wanting tax breaks for the wealthy. This ad was taken off of two television stations after complaints that it was misleading due to a spliced video clip of Mills. In the video, Mills is quoted as saying, "Folks saying that 'the wealthy, the wealthy are not paying their fair share, the 2 percent, the 1 percent, whatever percent you want, is personally offensive," when in reality he had said, "To be singled out as a deadbeat is personally offensive." However, the PAC and their supporters shot back by accusing the stations of taking the ad down for political reasons. Stanley Hubbard, the owner of both stations, is a Republican and a supporter of the Koch brothers.

Mills 2014 campaign ad

Mills ad featuring his wife

House Majority PAC ad attacking Mills

Campaign themes

2014

Mills listed the following issues on his campaign website:

“	Grow the economy from Main Street Up, not Wall Street Down: The Eighth District is a Main Street economy and job growth here comes from the ground up. That means we need tax reform that’s geared toward small business growth. Stewart doesn’t believe that Washington creates jobs- entrepreneurs and business owners create jobs. Natural Resources: Stewart believes that one way to increase employment here in Minnesota’s Eighth District is to have federal policies which will allow us to fully capitalize on our mineral and timber resources. It’s critical that Washington stop blocking our ability to extract natural resources. That’s why Stewart supports the development of the Polymet Project. Respect for Our Constitutional Rights: As a hunter and a competitive shooter, Stewart is staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, but he also believes that the entire Constitution must be protected and upheld in Washington. Healthcare Reform: Stewart believes that Obamacare has failed in achieving its stated goal- it set out to insure the uninsured, but it has resulted in “uninsuring” the previously insured. With his background in administering Fleet Farm’s self managed health plans, Stewart knows how to implement market based healthcare reforms that will increase the supply of medical services, reduce the demand through prevention and actually make the healthcare delivery more efficient. Cut Wasteful Spending and Rein in the National Debt: Our nation is more than $17 trillion in debt and politicians in Washington keep kicking the can down the road. We are quickly approaching the point where the annual debt servicing payments will grow to unsustainable levels. Our debt is endangering our children’s future and threatening our ability to leave this nation in better shape than we found it.	”
—Stewart Mills, campaign website archive

Campaign finance summary

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Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Mills lives near Brainerd, Minnesota, with his wife and five children.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Stewart + Mills + Minnesota + Congress"

Stewart Mills News Feed

See also

• United States House of Representatives
• Minnesota's 8th Congressional District elections, 2014
• Minnesota's 8th Congressional District

External links

Suggest a link

• Campaign website
• Facebook page
• Twitter feed

Footnotes

[show]

Minnesota's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Amy Klobuchar (D)

Tina Smith (D)

Representatives

District 1

Brad Finstad (R)

District 2

Angie Craig (D)

District 3

Dean Phillips (D)

District 4

Betty McCollum (D)

District 5

Ilhan Omar (D)

District 6

Tom Emmer (R)

District 7

Michelle Fischbach (R)

District 8

Pete Stauber (R)

Democratic Party (6)

Republican Party (4)