The incident attracted much publicity, but Mills was narrowly re-elected to his congressional seat in November 1974. Shortly after the election, Mills attended one of Foxe's burlesque performances at the Pilgrim Theater in Boston. Apparently drunk, Mills showed up and unsteadily walked onstage, prompting Foxe to say “Ladies and gentlemen, I have a visitor for you, and he wants to say hello. Mr. Mills, where are you?” Mills then gave a rambling speech onstage and then a backstage news conference in which he angrily announced that Foxe would no longer be performing. On December 10, 1974, Mills stepped down from his position as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and did not run for re-election in 1976, ending a 38-year congressional career.