ST. PAUL, Minn. — Republican Stewart Mills will press on with a recount in Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, which is estimated to cost more than $100,000, he said Wednesday.
Democratic incumbent Rep. Rick Nolan's victory by just over half a percentage point in the northeastern Minnesota district was outside the quarter-point margin that would trigger a state-funded recount.
The Secretary of State's office said Mills would have to cover about $102,000 — a sum that doesn't include both campaigns legal costs as the recount gets underway. Mills formally requested a recount Tuesday after the state's canvassing board certified the Nov. 8 election results.
Mills told The Associated Press he'd cover the costs with a mix of leftover campaign cash, donors and, if needed, personal money. His campaign had $93,000 on hand heading into Election Day, an amount Mills said has decreased.
"At half a percentage point, it'd be negligent for us not to make sure that every vote was counted and every vote was counted equally," he said. "We feel that it's something that we're obligated to do as a campaign."
Both candidates were moving Wednesday to solidify teams of lawyers to oversee the recount process, which will begin Monday in some counties and last several days.
Mills also lost to Nolan in 2014, but by a slightly larger margin.
