Robert Mills

Robert Michael Mills
Louisiana State Senator for District 36 (Bienville, Bossier, Claiborne, and Webster parishes)
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 13, 2020
Preceded by	Ryan Gatti
Born	April 1, 1953 Shreveport, Louisiana Resident of Benton in Bossier Parish
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican (life-long)
Spouse(s)	Three divorces Fourth and current wife, Sheila Allen Mills
Children	Four children; names unavailable
Alma mater	Clifton Ellis Byrd High School Louisiana State University
Occupation	Petroleum, natural gas, and lumber industries
Religion	United Methodist

Robert Michael Mills (born April 1, 1953) is the state senator for District 36 in Bienville, Bossier, Claiborne, and Webster parishes in northwestern Louisiana. Running on a conservative platform and a life-long registered Republican, Mills unseated Ryan Gatti, a Moderate Republican from Bossier City, who was seeking his second term in the general election held on November 16, 2019. Mills is one the first state legislative candidates to be endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who urged voter support for Mills in pre-election rallies in Monroe and Bossier City while Trump was campaigning for the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate, Eddie Rispone.

Background

Mills graduated (year not available) from Clifton Ellis Byrd High School in Shreveport, where he resided until he relocated to Benton in Bossier Parish. In 1976, he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Louisiana State Universityin Baton Rouge. He since was employed in the petroleum, natural gas, and lumber businesses. Since 2015, he has been the vice president of Crude Oil Supply, South.

Mills has worked on projects in many nations, including Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, Indonesia, China, and India. Mills said that he expects to complete his "most important project" through service as a state senator in Baton Rouge: I’m running for state Senate because there’s a leadership void and a lack of urgency on the part of career politicians. We’re sluggish while other states are aggressive. I want to get Louisiana back on track, off the bottom, and moving in the right direction."

Election to the state Senate

Mills polled 22,050 votes (56 percent) to Ryan Gatti's 17,209 (44 percent). Earlier on October 12, Mills led in the nonpartisan blanket primary with 48 percent of the ballots cast, but a third candidate, a Democrat, polled enough votes to force a second round of balloting.

Mills carried earlier endorsements from U.S. Senator John Neely Kennedy and U.S. Representative Mike Johnson of the state's 4th congressional district. Mills challenged Gatti for his close personal friendship with Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards and his support for tax increases which Edwards obtained from a nominally Republican-majority legislature. In the same election in which Edwards turned back the challenge of Eddie Rispone, the governor' s friend Gatti was unseated. Mills said that Gatti has offered to help with the transition of the senatorial office.

Mills said that lawsuit abuse is his legislative priority in 2020. Even though he expects a veto for such proposed legislation from Governor Edwards, he hopes the legislature, with an even larger Republican majority in Edwards' second term, can override the governor.

In May 2021, Mills, who campaigned two years earlier as a conservative, joined five other North Louisiana state senators previously considered conservatives, Barrow Peacock, Jay Morris, Barry Milligan, Mike Reese, and Stewart Cathey, in voting to extend a $400 million temporary state sales tax (.45 percent) even though the state is awaiting a windfall in federal coronavirus stimulus funding. Mills' vote was even in contrast to the Democratic Senator Greg Tarver of Caddo Parish, who opposed the tax extension.