Minnesota Lawyer
Tim Walz
Aaron Miller announced on Tuesday that he plans to seek the GOP nomination in the 1st Congressional District. The U.S. Army veteran is the second announced Republican challenger to DFL U.S. Rep. Tim Walz.
“No one is going to outwork me in southern Minnesota,” Miller said in announcing his bid at the Soldiers Field Veterans Memorial in Rochester, according to the Rochester Post-Bulletin. “I am going to ask them what is important to them, and we are going to talk about the issues.”
The 44-year-old Byron resident said that he will abide by the GOP endorsement.
Another potential GOP challenger, former state Sen. Al DeKruif, has decided not to run for the seat. DeKruif cited business obligations as part of the reason he’s abandoning his campaign.
The only other GOP challenger is state Rep. Mike Benson. The two-term incumbent from Rochester announced in June that he will be seeking the 1st Congressional District seat.
Walz won reelection by 15 percentage points last year; in 2010 he won by 5 percentage points. But the Cook Partisan Voting Index gives Republicans a generic 1 percentage point advantage in the district. Neither Cook or the Rothenberg Political Report includes the 1st Congressional District contest on its chart of competitive races.
