My initial encounter with Cory Mills started like so many others online. Poking and sifting through his campaign website and Twitter channel took me down the labyrinth of issues being faced by both America in general and the citizens in Florida District 7. Digging deeper, I found a man of depth, conscience, dedication, and fortitude. I found an American leader.
iVoteAmerica is in a feverish quest to hunt down what we call The Next Generation of Conservatives®. I connected with Cory’s story and indicated through a casual tweet that his candidacy was something of interest to iVoteAmerica. While he was spot-on with respect to the issues, his military service put me over the top.
We connected by telephone for the following interview, where Cory opened his heart to me about his love for America, the roots of his childhood that shaped him into the man and candidate he is today, and his unequivocal, no-nonsense commitment to delivering a new kind of leadership to FL-7.
Our time together introduced me to a man of considerable depth. Mills is well-spoken, informed, smart, intuitive, and committed to developing a new kind of relationship with voters. Yes, all candidates tell voters they will be different. But how many candidates develop a soon-to-be-delivered, geo-fenced app (access limited to voters who are physically located in his district) that acts as a kind of political ankle bracelet? Cory wants to allow constituents to know in real-time what he’s thinking about with respect to the issues they face, what he is doing, what bills he’s sponsoring, and how he voted, almost as if his voters to whom he is accountable were shadowing him.
Based on my time with Cory Mills and our serious discussion about the profound issues facing Floridians, and indeed, all Americans, I am proud to announce that iVoteAmerica and iVoteFlorida have endorsed him as Florida’s next US House Representative for District 7.
I have believed for some time that the experiences of veterans like Cory make them uniquely qualified to lead our nation. After all, who knows more about the requirements to make and keep America free than the men and women who put their lives on the line for the freedoms we sometimes take for granted? I am confident Mr. Mills will be a transitional politician dedicated to the America First agenda and one who accepts his accountability to his constituents. After all, he’s is still under oath!
Here’s my interview with our first 2021 Next Generation Conservative, Cory Mills.
Q: Thanks for allowing iVoteAmerica to talk with you about your life and campaign. Tell us, who is Cory Mills?
CORY: Great starting question. I am a small-town boy. I grew up with an understanding of how drugs and addiction destroy the nuclear family. Both my mother and father became addicts. Both were incarcerated, and I bounced from house to house. Fortunately, my grandparents from my father’s side took me in and raised me in a traditional home where we ate together, attended church, and I played sports throughout my childhood up until minor league baseball. When I was 12 my grandfather had several heart attacks. I recall my grandparents living off $6,500 in a full year. We were literally two days away from selling their house when my grandfather was approved for disability and they were able to keep their home.
The biggest driver in my life was to make my grandparents proud. I recall how proud I was to be an American. It was the Reagan era, and I looked up to him, and his positive pro-America message…America First, actually. At that time I developed a strong interest in military history and the things that were so great about America. I had a desire to serve. I wanted to change the cycle of family…I was about 13 years old. I have seen both family perspectives, the broken family and the traditional family my grandparents gave to me.
There was a yearning for a larger family, sort of a brotherhood…and my childhood and teen years led me to the military. I graduated as an honors graduate of boot camp. Going into the military was a calling to serve. My family couldn’t send me to college and the US Army provided me an opportunity to earn my way forward. I was involved in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
My grandfather instilled a work ethic in me. I remember him talking about not being able to control the heart of another man but to control our own. This all made me who I am today.
Q: Why you, and why you now in Florida 7?
CORY: I believe constituents need to know and be assured their representative is acting on their behalf, not the party’s interests. I put loyalty to citizens above loyalty to the party.
Therefore, I am developing an APP, all at my own expense, called ‘We the People.’ The purpose of the app is to stop the partisanship that divides people, like those in Florida 7. I want to give power back to the people in terms of accessibility, transparency, and accountability, something that all elected officials need. It will give you my bio, my calendar, my media, all my voting records, and how I voted. It will give you all the calendar dates for all legislation and links to every bill.
My app will allow voters to tell me if they want me to vote yes or no. And, it will give you the voting trend when you tell me your vote as a citizen from Florida 7. If I don’t vote in line with the wishes of my constituency, my app will send and message telling every voter how I voted…it will tell them I voted against their desires. The app is geo-fenced. You can only access the information by being in Florida 7, protecting elector integrity.
Why should you vote for me? I will be accessible, my record will be transparent to continuents, and voters will be able to hold me accounable through alerts from my app. The app will be in the marketplace as soon as I finish my iOS regulation compliance is completed. You can read about the on MillsForFlorida website. In fact, I have screen shots of the app pages there.
Q: Tell me and Florida 7 about your campaign status…what is the state of the campaign?
CORY: We launched April 1, 2021. Website is up, app is under development, and we are on social media with our message. Too much of my time is spent fund-raising, an I need more time with constituents. Getting more outreach going, the message out to more voter is critical. I have shared this with Donald Trump.
CONTRIBUTE $5 TO CORY’S CAMPAIGN
Q: When I say the word “abortion” what comes to mind and what is your position on this watershed issue?
CORY: I am a pro-life conservative. What does that mean? I am not in favor of any kind of abortion. While I am not a person who has been the victim of incest or rape, I do understand there are different and difficult life situations in which some might feel differently, Being a father, I know there is no greater blessing on earth than children. I have a good friend whose mother almost aborted her, and when I see the things she has been able to do, it’s difficult to imagine the world without her.
In my own situation, my mother and father weren’t sure they were going to go through with things. My mother was 19 years old and my father was 18 years old. My life wasn’t planned, but of course, I can assure you I am grateful my parents chose to be pro-life. I go back to something President Reagan said: “Isn’t it interesting that all of the people who are pro-abortion have already been born.”
What’s disgusting about Democrats is their new position on late-term abortions. How is it that our laws will define an unborn baby as a person if someone murders a pregnant woman?
When it comes to Roe v. Wade, I will look at bills that restrict abortion, even an amendment. I believe that every life is sacred. While pregnancy might not be a planned event, children are a blessing from God, not an accident. My parents decided I was not an accident. Part of what we have to protect is life.
Q: There are millions of voters who think we had election integrity issues in AZ, NV, GA, PA, WI, and MI. Do we have an issue?
CORY: Election integrity means we ensure a free and fair election for American citizens, registered in their district with voter ids. It’s hard to believe that the Democrats will push a vaccine passport for all Americans, but not voter identification. The idea that a vote id leads to suppressing votes is incorrect. Even Jerry Nadler said, some time ago, that paper ballots were susceptible to fraud.
The Democrat party figured out how to use that to their advantage. Let me be clear, if we do not have electoral integrity, if we do not have the ability to ensure Americans can have confidence in elections, we don’t have a democracy.
This issue (election integrity) is a line in the sand. If a state has nothing to hide, it will open books, pull back the kimono, lift the veil, and pierce the curtain because they believe the results. I think people who want to hide results already know there is something to hide. Audits should take place so people can be confident in the system and that our elections have legitimacy.
Q: What does ‘America First’ actually mean to a citizen, to our foreign and domestic policy?
CORY: Foreign and domestic policy are hard to separate. I think in both areas we need to examine policy with respect to how our decisions put America first. Look at the relationship between USMCA and the China Phase I deal…these foreign trade policies held countries accountable by creating fair domestic trade. Oil independence sets an America First agenda. We need to look at how fighting endless wars in a conventional fashion with large-scale buildup is not about America First.
We should be looking at putting American workers back to work as an America First domestic policy, which is often today tied to foreign policy. We’ve seen what happens when the country has a 3.8% unemployment rate and at the same time NATO is paying its fair share and that we are stronger internationally when the US is not a global credit card. Sending hundreds of billions of dollars to countries who hate us is no America First, it’s buying diplomacy.
We have veteran needs, homeless people, and a lot of domestic America First issues that are intertwined with foreign policy and foreign aid. Israel’s Iron Dome costs are wound up in Palestinian aid which will go to support Hamas proxy groups. In other words, the way we spend money indicates our placement of Americans above all else.
Q: Who is your opponent…Stephanie Murphy runs as a moderate who votes socialist.
CORY: She votes 100% with Nancy Pelosi. Stephanie wants to sit on committees but when it comes to her interest in the citizens of District 7, she has allowed their interests to come after the citizens in Pelosi’s, Schumer’s, and Nadler’s districts. She’s a three-term Representative who needs to be replaced. Florida 7ued to be a Republican district and I want us to turn it red again.
Q: What do want to say to voters in Florida, District 7?
CORY: I understand what’s happening in central Florida because I was raised here. I want to put Florida before foreign interests. I am about job creation. I created 150 jobs in Florida. Small businesses are the best way to create jobs. Government should be limited to creating opportunities. I support terms limits. I am America First.
I am opposed to unlimited wars because I have experienced war. I have been blown up twice in Iraq, in March 2006 and in April 2006 by an Iranian EFP that ripped through our vehicle and critically wounded a couple of my guys.
Because of my life experiences growing up in central Florida, my business experience, and my military experience, I am central Florida 7’s best bet to represent them and their families in the House of Representatives in Washington, DC
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
iVoteAmerica® – The Next Generation of conservatives® iVoteAmerica.com
Follow us on Twitter @iVoteAmerica, and @iVoteFlorida
Like us on Facebook
Visit our Store at iVoteAmericaStore.com
If you're happy with BIG Government, then ignore this!
Good Choice...Let's Get Rid of Big Government