Democrat Miller files to run for 2nd Congressional District seat

Lady's Island resident and Marine Corps veteran Rob Miller made his candidacy for South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District seat official Thursday, filing to seek the Democratic Party's nomination.

"I am running for Congress because I'm tired of watching South Carolina fall further and further behind," Miller said in a news release. "We need a congressman whose only focus is South Carolina. It's time for Washington to start working for South Carolinians."

Miller, 35, seeks a rematch of his 2008 race against incumbent Joe Wilson, a West Columbia Republican who won with 54 percent of the vote. Wilson has carried the district that stretches from the Midlands to the Lowcountry since 2001, after he won a special election to fill a vacancy caused by Rep. Floyd Spence's death.

This year's race has drawn national attention after Wilson interrupted President Barack Obama's September address to a joint session of Congress by shouting "You lie" in response to an Obama statement about health care.

The incident brought a formal rebuke for Wilson by the House of Representatives and a torrent of campaign contributions to both candidates -- about $6 million between them, a record for a South Carolina House race, according to a recent McClatchy-Tribune News Service report.

Miller has raised about $2 million, according to his campaign's news release Thursday.

The Charleston native lives with his wife and son on Lady's Island and runs a small business, the release added. Miller served 13 years in the Marine Corps.