Mills gives thanks

For a guy who was a first-time candidate against a 12-year incumbent, Dustin Mills ran a good race. He thanked his supporters yesterday.

Having taken the time to reflect upon the election, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support.  Although the election did not go quite as I would have liked, I am pleased with the effort put forth and I know that we worked hard.  However, nothing I did would have been possible without the support of many people.  They are too many to name, but they know who they are.  Without my team, and those who supported me, I would never have come close to getting as many votes as I did.  I also wanted to thank everyone who voted for me.  I know you believe in what I had to say and I only wish we could have done more.  Even though I did not win, I look forward to continuing the fight for what is right in Maryland.  I will continue to work hard to make Maryland better and I hope everyone will work with me.  I am humbled by your confidence in me and thank you for voting for me.  Let us continue to work hard and we will make Maryland a better place!

Dustin should get around 3,800 votes when all is said and done, and that’s not bad considering he was outraised this cycle by about a 4 to 1 ratio (not to mention Cane had about $50k to play with from before) and received no PAC money, unlike his opponent who got money from the SEIU ($1,000),  trial lawyers association ($500), and SEIU again ($1,000) among other groups which normally back incumbents regardless of party.

And he’s the kind of good, young conservative candidate the GOP will need in the coming years so it doesn’t seem like the loss is too discouraging to him – although I would have liked to see him break 40 percent as he did in Wicomico County where both live…it was the 25% in Dorchester that let him down.

We can only guess what redistricting may do to this district, but given the statement by Cane that this will be his last term Dustin is well-positioned to try it again in four years assuming he remains in the district once the Democrats are finished with it. (If Rudy is done, it will be interesting to see what he does with the $50k he has left.)

So I don’t see this as a goodbye, but just a breather. We didn’t pick Dustin as the top young Republican in Maryland 2 years ago to see him lie down.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.