By Kirk Ross, Staff Writer
A Sunday afternoon, and Thomas Mills is doing something he doesn’t often find time to do: relax.
With his wife, Jenae Tharaldson, and their two children, Lucy and Atticus, up north visiting her family and the summer doldrums temporarily influencing the world of politics in which Mills is often immersed, Sunday was unusually quiet.
A little downtime might have come earlier had Mills’ top client, N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, not been faced with a runoff against former state Sen. Cal Cunningham in the race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
Ultimately, Marshall’s second victory looked easy, but it dragged the campaign season out an additional six weeks. It also put to rest any notion that Cunningham’s perceived favor with the national Democratic Party leadership would trump Marshall’s name recognition and populism.
In the days immediately after the win, praise was heaped on Mills, who has been immersed in the nerve-wracking world of politics and elections since 1994. Known locally for his work for former Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy and state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, and around the state for work in state legislative races, Mills suddenly found himself in the national spotlight, with pundits such as The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza tipping their hats.
Since then, although he was running a campaign against the D.C. establishment, taking two primaries in a row has seemed to smooth over any hard feelings.
Asked how winning decisively has influenced the relationship, Mills beamed a bit. “We get along just fine now,†he said.
After the election, he didn’t waste much time in the stratosphere and readily admits that while he believes Marshall is the right candidate for the right time, it’ll be a tough fight through November.
Politics is no longer about lining up endorsements and expecting organizations to deliver their constituencies. “Voters are far more independent,†he said. “You have to reach out to every voter.â€
Between now and Election Day, the volatile environment and uncertainty about who will actually show up at the polls means there’s a lot of work to do.
“I’ll be spending a lot of time in the voter files between now and then, trying to get an idea of what the electorate looks like,†he said.
And mostly, he’ll be on the phone.
Although he used to work out of his comfortable, sprawling and occasionally toy-strewn home in old Carrboro, Mills now heads to an office at 605 Main St. to plug in his headset and meet the day.
He recently found out that he spent 95 hours on the office phone in July – not a particularly hot month in politics. “That doesn’t include the cell phone; add another 15 to 20 hours on,†he said, looking a little like a marathoner talking about the joy found in the uphill portion of a race.
A Wadesboro native and one of four rowdy sons of a now-retired superior court judge, Mills was around Democratic Party politics from a young age.
He also was no stranger to this community. His mother, whose maiden name was Penny Martin, is a Chapel Hill native who lived near Gimghoul Castle and later in a house where the parking lot of the Carolina Inn in now located.
Mills came to school here in 1981, worked jobs as a carpenter and got involved in social work. He and his first wife, Katherine, and their daughter, Jasper, moved to Cleveland County for a while. That’s where Mills started to get involved in legislative races. He moved back to town in 1996 to be closer to Raleigh and a growing number of clients.
Here he’s been in some tough races, helping Kinnaird defeat Howard Lee in a redistricting-driven primary between two popular incumbent state senators and Kevin Foy in his first race for mayor against fellow council member Lee Pavao in an open race for the seat. In the statewide races, he likes to make sure Carrboro and Orange County come in big for his candidates, as evidenced by his corralling for Marshall of a wide majority of local elected officials during the primary.
He’s fond of saying that win or lose he enjoys a good fight, and while he understands his role is to advise candidates rather than shape policy, he prefers to work with candidates more akin to his rural Democratic Party roots.
Marshall’s candidacy appealed to him. “She’s remarkably accomplished and still humble about her accomplishments.â€
And Marshall, who grew up on a farm in Maryland, also balances the rural and urban forces in the state, he said.
“While everybody in North Carolina may not have come from a farm,†Mills said, “they wish they did.â€
The proof of all the work – and hundreds of hours on the phone – will be in November. Until then, you might see Thomas Mills surface from time to time – dropping by Weaver Start Market in the mornings, where he catches up on all things Carrboro, popping over to the Looking Glass for coffee or riding up to Johnny’s for his favorite tamales.
And if for some reason in the heat of the bare-knuckle battle fixing to begin you might think it odd that Mills is still smiling, please remember: he might be in the fight of his life, but he’s loving every minute of it.