New legal complaint threatens to toss Rep. Cory Mills off the ballot
With a number of salacious accusations and an Ethics Committee investigation swirling, Rep. Cory Mills can rightly be described as an embattled congressman. But a new, far-less-scandalous accusation now threatens to take Mills off the ballot in November: bad paperwork.
One of Mills’ Republican opponents, Michael Johnson, recently filed a formal legal complaint alleging Mills improperly notarized his candidate documents — and Johnson wants a judge to strike his fellow Republican from the Florida primary ballot.
The complaint centers on an accusation that Mills didn’t have his candidate forms notarized in Florida. Instead, the complaint alleges that Mills was in Washington, D.C., when he completed the documents, using fellow Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube’s chief of staff, Alejandro Blair — who’s a Florida notary — to verify the paperwork.
The complaint notes that Blair isn’t a notary in D.C. And Blair’s notary stamp, which appears on the candidate form attached to the complaint, says he’s licensed in Florida.
Had Mills used a D.C. notary while in D.C., he could have submitted the paperwork. But under Florida law, the notary must authorize the documents in the state they’re licensed to practice.
Mills had his paperwork notarized on June 4, 2026. And evidence suggests he was on Capitol grounds throughout that day.
The House Armed Services Committee — of which Mills is a member — marked up its version of the annual defense policy bill on June 4. It’s generally considered the biggest legislative day for the panel, and according to a log of the markup, Mills was present for committee votes, which started just before 2:10 p.m. and ended around midnight.
Mills also voted on the House floor on June 4, with seven recorded votes taking place between 4:45 p.m. and just after 8 p.m. Mills can even be seen in C-SPAN footage on the House floor.
Making the potential window for travel even narrower, Mills also voted on the House floor on the evening of June 3. But according to his candidate paperwork, Mills signed the documents — and had them notarized by Blair — in Florida on June 4.
In his complaint, Johnson alleges that Mills did not “personally take and subscribe the oath in the required manner,” arguing that Mills may have actually used an “autopen, mechanical signature device, or other non-personal means.”
Johnson says these issues mean Mills is not “lawfully qualified as a candidate.”
“This is just another example of Cory Mills deceiving the voters of this congressional district,” Johnson told MS NOW on Tuesday.
“As we all know, there’s an open House Ethics investigation regarding potential financial violations, sexual misconduct, business issues, stolen valor, and misuse of his office,” Johnson continued. “Everyone in this district encourages Cory Mills to resign. It’d be an ironic end if the thing that takes him down is a paperwork error.”
Neither Mills nor Blair responded to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday.
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The complaint comes ahead of Florida’s primary day, August 18, when Johnson and two other Republicans are looking to knock out Mills as the GOP nominee for Florida’s 7th congressional district.
But the ballot complaint against Mills is just the latest controversy to his tenure on Capitol Hill.
The Office of Congressional Conduct — a nonpartisan congressional investigative body — first referred Mills to the House Ethics Committee for investigation in August 2024, finding there was “substantial reason” to believe the Florida Republican violated federal contracting and campaign finance laws and made false statements to the government on his financial disclosures.
Last November, the Ethics Committee announced it had launched a formal investigation, broadening the scope to additionally include potential misuse of office, unreported gifts on official trips overseas, improper favors, and sexual misconduct — including “dating violence” allegations adjudicated in a restraining order against Mills that a Florida county judge had recently granted to an ex-girlfriend.
Mills has previously denied the allegations against him, including in response to questions from MS NOW while at the Capitol in April.
“I have no open cases, criminal and or civil, anywhere in any state across the country,” Mills said. “I have not been indicted and or accused of any type of financial fraud with regards to federal funds or otherwise.”
“Every case has been closed. I was found innocent with no probable cause. And I’m gonna let the due process fail,” he added.
In May, the Ethics Committee updated the public on the progress of its investigation, saying it had authorized more than 20 subpoenas, collected thousands of documents and contacted dozens of witnesses.
“The [investigative subcommittee] expects to receive additional relevant documents and testimony in the coming weeks and will take all necessary steps to conduct a full and thorough investigation,” the statement added.
Fallon Gallagher and Matt Fuller contributed to this report.
