In New Strategy, Mills Aims To Tie Nolan To Clinton
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Outside political groups are pouring millions of dollars into Minnesota to buy television ads linking Republicans to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
But in northern Minnesota, Republican Congressional candidate Stewart Mills is giving Democrats a taste of their own medicine --
by linking Democratic Congressman Rick Nolan to Hillary Clinton.
Democrats are making Donald Trump the issue against Republicans in metro area Congressional races. Several ads from national Democratic groups draw connections between Republican Congressman Erik Paulsen and Trump, and tie GOP candidate Jason Lewis to Trump.
Now, Republican candidate Stewart Mills is criticizing Democratic Congressman Rick Nolan just for reportedly saying Hillary Clinton had a good debate Monday night against Donald Trump.
Political analysts say there's a specific strategy in play.
"All's it's going to take is one percent, maybe two percent to sway that race," Hamline political science professor David Schultz said. "In a race as tight as Nolan versus Mills, looking for any edge that you can would be important."
On Twitter, Mills links 1970s Nolan to 1970s Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
In a show of solidarity, Mills also posted images of Mills and Trump volunteers together. As he told WCCO recently, there's strong 8th District support for Trump.
"He became our nominee of our party. He put on that red jersey, and I'm not going to tackle people who are on our same team," Mills said. "He's the nominee of our party, and second of all, he is not Hillary Clinton."
Public Polling shows Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump in Minnesota overall, but in the 8th District in northern Minnesota Trump appears to have strong support. It's worth noting, however, that a Republican presidential candidate has not won Minnesota since Nixon in 1972.
Besides the 8th District, there are quite a few close Congressional races in Minnesota. Usually only a handful of Congressional races around the country are in play -- and that's true again this year -- but three of them are in Minnesota: The 8th District in northern Minnesota, but also the 2nd and 3rd districts in the Twin Cities suburbs.