Stewart Mills To Seek Recount In 8th District Election

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Stewart Mills says he will request a recount in Minnesota's 8th Congressional District election, which the Republican candidate lost to incumbent Democrat Rick Nolan.

According to the Secretary of State's website, Mills lost the election by 2,009 votes. In a district where 356,971 votes were cast, that's about a half a percent -- not enough to trigger a state-funded recount. Mills said his campaign will pay for the recount and while they are not soliciting donations, they will not turn them away.

Mills said he will officially request the recount Tuesday after the State Canvassing Board meets to certify the election results. Mills believes the recount will take about two weeks to complete, with one week of preparation and another week to actually count the votes.

The race between Mills and Nolan was already an expensive one, with each candidate putting in about $5 million of their own money. Mills and Nolan also ran against each other in 2014. That year, Nolan won by about 4,000 votes.