Rep. McMillan files to run for a third term in the House

Second-term Rep. Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton, has filed to run for re-election to a third term representing District 7. McMillan, who yesterday publicly asked the House to convene an ethics committee to investigate her actions when she voted against a bill that ends special protections from debt collectors for elected officials without revealing that she had personally benefited from that law, had no comment after filing her candidacy papers. Asked if she planned to send out a statement about why she’s running again, McMillan told this reporter, “No, and I think you should leave.”

McMillan won re-election in 2012 with 64.9 percent of the vote, defeating Democratic challenger Casey Drews, who had 35.1 percent. But in McMillan’s home county, Shoshone County, she actually lost to the Democratic challenger, who took 2,627 votes to McMillan’s 2,214. She outpolled Drews in the portion of the sprawling district that takes in part of Bonner and all of Clearwater and Idaho counties.

McMillan defeated longtime Democratic Rep. Mary Lou Shepherd in 2010, 54.9 percent to 45.1 percent, to win her seat, which then was in District 2. That year, Shepherd defeated McMillan in Shoshone County, where both are from, with 2,378 votes to McMillan’s 1,470 votes, but again, McMillan outpolled her opponent in the outlying counties in the district, which that year included Benewah, Bonner, and part of Kootenai. Shepherd died in November.