Stewart Mills III did not receive the endorsement of the Duluth News Tribune. And so he threw a temper tantrum. The editorial board instead endorsed Congressman Rick Nolan, who they said was “accessible and responsive and has earned the support he’ll need to prevail and remain in office.”
In the same endorsement, the editorial board gave a scathing review of Mills’ campaign. Citing his “seeming unwillingness to answer questions publicly or to face scrutiny – or even inquiry,” they criticized Mills for rarely being seen in Duluth or on the Range, unlike Nolan. They also lambasted him for arriving and leaving through a secret back door during the one and only scheduled debate in the 8th.
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Little his challenger has done or said suggests he’d be as open or as willing to address our needs here in the north. Republican Stewart Mills’ base of support clearly is in the southern end of the district. He’s rarely seen in Duluth or on the Range. That’s in stark contrast to Nolan and, before him, Reps. Chip Cravaack and Jim Oberstar. Mills has no campaign office here, even though Duluth is the biggest city in the district.
And voters can be forgiven for being suspicious of Mills’ seeming unwillingness to answer questions publicly or to face scrutiny — or even inquiry — in front of constituents in the north or anywhere. Mills turned down numerous invitations this campaign season to debate his opponent or to appear with him on television, on radio or elsewhere. And the one time he did agree to share a stage with Nolan — at the Playhouse in Duluth on Sept. 19 at a candidate forum sponsored by the News Tribune and Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce — he arrived through a back door moments before the debate was to begin and then dashed away soon after it was over.
When the News Tribune editorial board requested a follow-up meeting, Mills said he’d only do so off the record.
You’d think a congressional candidate hoping to be taken seriously would accept this criticism like an adult – but not Stewart Mills III. Instead, he spent more than 600 words complaining about his lack of endorsement in the very same Duluth News Tribune, calling their logic “flawed” and “petty,” and saying it wasn’t “entitled to present its own untruths as facts.”
These…are not the actions of a congressional candidate.
“It’s clear in the final weeks before Election Day, Stewart Mills III realizes he’s losing and is blaming everybody but himself,” said DCCC Spokeswoman Sacha Haworth. “Voters in Minnesota’s Eighth deserve a leader to represent them in Washington, not someone who lashes out at the tiniest bit of criticism, like a spoiled child.”