New Normal In 8th: Battleground District
EVELETH, Minn. (AP) — In the chilly curling hall-turned-community center, hundreds of iron miners gathered on a September afternoon to celebrate five decades of feeding America's thirst for steel. Some on walkers, some still wearing hardhats, they listened and cheered as a procession of speakers recounted stories of mining's trials and victories through the years until one — state Rep. Jason Metsa — cleared his throat and stepped back to the microphone.
"I humbly ask for you to remember that Democrats have really hit the ball out of the park for the Range these last few years," Metsa said.
Just a few years ago, that reminder would have been unnecessary on Minnesota's famed Iron Range, where the economy depends heavily on mining and its heavily unionized workforce. But Democrats are on defense now in the 8th District — strange territory in a district that had been a lock for them since World War II.
A veteran Democrat's shocking defeat in 2010 exposed the changing face of the district, with decades of population losses forcing it to expand into more conservative areas of the state just as Democratic strongholds were dwindling. The 8th is a biennial battleground now, with Democrats this year defending Rep. Rick Nolan against Republican challenger and businessman Stewart Mills in one of the nation's most expensive races.
Outside groups have already poured $2 million into attack ads featuring guns, mining and Mills' personal wealth. Republican outlays are being met by Democrats, who want to prove the late Rep. Jim Oberstar's 2010 loss was a fluke, driven by poor voter turnout and the GOP wave that helped them regain the House that year.
Mills didn't consider the seat winnable by a Republican until Oberstar lost it. But it wasn't until 2013 that Mills — the grandson of a chain of outdoors and home-improvement stores — took any interest in politics himself.
That's the year he took to YouTube to post a 12-minute video in which he sharply criticized Congress' post-Sandy Hook gun control measures, including Nolan's support of an assault weapons ban and other proposals. Mills' impassioned opposition launched his political profile.
Mills, a vice president at his family's company, Mills Fleet Farm, has emphasized his experience managing health plans to sharpen his critique of President Barack Obama's health care law and Nolan's support of it. The 42-year-old Republican would scrap the law by replacing its insurance marketplaces with state-based pools for high-risk consumers and bring down health costs by allowing health insurance companies to sell across state lines, among other changes.
Mills' non-traditional look has gotten him some attention too, with one national publication dubbing him the "Brad Pitt of the Republican Party" thanks to his long hair and trim physique. An attack ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee featured Mills' hair, with footage of him repeatedly smoothing it before campaign appearances as the ad's narration portrayed Mills as affluent and self-interested.
That chin-length hair blew behind Mills during a weekend appearance on his home turf in Brainerd, where he hit the county fairgrounds for the Grass Drags — a quintessentially northern Minnesota tradition in which racers speed their snowmobiles across grass at 100 mph.
Mills didn't talk about his campaign, chatting instead about the latest snowmobile models and goats. His wife keeps two of them as pets.
"They're supposed to eat the dandelions, but she feeds them all the good stuff," he told one voter.
He's focused largely on wooing voters outside his home base, like chipping support away from Nolan on the Iron Range. He's criticized Nolan's vote for a budget bill that included a carbon tax, which Mills said "would absolutely kill mining on the Iron Range."
At the rally in Eveleth, in the heart of mine country, Glen Sury wasn't buying it. The 68-year-old retired electrician, who worked in the town's iron ore mine, said he sees Nolan as solidly in support of mining, and his former co-workers and neighbors likely do too. And in this part of the district, that's all that matters.
"Supporting that is pretty much a positive for us," Sury said. "We don't have much to fall back on."
Nolan and outside Democratic groups have sought to turn Mills' family business against him, constantly pegging him in ads and rallies as "Stewart Mills III," an out-of-touch millionaire who inherited his wealth.
Angling to add a second term to his second congressional stint (he served in the House in the '70s), Nolan acknowledged Mills — and the newly competitive district — have made it a close race. After a rousing speech in front of Eveleth miners, he called Mills a "tea party opponent" who opposes any regulation on principle — especially with mining.
"This notion that you have to choose between progress and the environment is just a fallacious argument," Nolan said.
Aaron Brown, a Democratic political consultant who blogs about northern Minnesota, said neither Mills nor Nolan is the "perfect candidate" to string together markedly different areas of the district and solidify support as Oberstar did for several decades.
The result: Minnesota's 8th District will likely keep its swing status for years to come, he said.
"We could potentially see this go back and forth until some miraculous figure ... realizes they've got to bridge a gap between different areas. I don't know who that figure is at this point," Brown said.
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