Duluth, MN – Republican congressional candidate Stewart Mills announced Monday he is requesting a recount after losing to Democratic incumbent, Rep. Rick Nolan by just more than two thousand votes on Election Day.
Mills told The Pioneer Press the election results were too close to, “just let it go,” saying he will personally pay for the recount.
According to the Minnesota Secretary of State, Mills lost to Nolan by 2,009 votes, with 356,971 votes cast. With the results more than a quarter of a percent apart, the state does not automatically hold and pay for a recount.
The most recent statewide recounts occurred in 2008 between Al Franken (DFL) and Norm Coleman (R) for US Senate, and in 2010 between Mark Dayton (DFL) and Tom Emmer (R). In both cases the Democratic candidate walked away the victor after the recount.
Representative Nolan’s campaign manager Joe Radinovich tells The Pioneer Press that Mills’ paying for the recount is “unprecedented,” saying it “calls into question the integrity of Minnesota’s election system, which is administered through the volunteer efforts of election judges from both parties.”
The Star Tribune reports Nolan garnered more votes than Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the district. Republican President-elect Donald Trump won the district, yet Nolan received nearly 40,000 more votes than Clinton.
The recount will be done by hand. There is no word on how long the process should take.
