Stewart Mills says he won't run for Rep. Nolan's 8th District seat

Minnesota businessman Stewart Mills will not run again for Congress in Minnesota's 8th District.

Mills, a Republican, was a two-time challenger for the congressional seat, losing both times to DFLer Rick Nolan. In February, he said he was "very seriously considering another run" after Nolan announced his retirement.

Nolan's exit makes it an open and highly competitive seat for Democrats and Republicans. It's one of a small number of Democratic-held congressional districts in the country that President Trump won in 2016, which he did by 56,000 votes.

But in a Tuesday Facebook post, Mills said he had decided not to run again.

"I promised to seriously reconsider the 2018 election cycle and make a decision based off of 'hard data,'" Mills said in the post. "I finished my review of that data and completed other due diligence last night and have decided not to run. I owed it to my supporters to take this consideration very seriously, many of those supporters got behind me all the way back in 2013."

Right now, St. Louis County Commissioner Pete Stauber of Hermantown, Minn., is the sole Republican candidate in the race. Stauber has said he's focused on running a campaign on the issues that matter from mining to military readiness.

Democrats running for the seat include two-term North Branch Mayor Kirsten Kennedy, former federal agent Leah Phifer and former state Rep. Joe Radinovich.