Support for Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) is eroding in Washington and back home in Ohio as he faces domestic violence and child abuse allegations that threaten his political career.
Miller has been accused by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), of abusing both her and their 2-year-old daughter. Miller has denied the allegations and has insisted he plans to continue seeking reelection for his House seat.
But even as Miller vows to stay in the race, where he faces Democratic nominee Brian Poindexter, support for his campaign is cratering among his fellow Republicans and voters in the Cleveland-area district.
In Washington, Miller lost a prominent supporter in Sen. John Husted (R-OH), who said he believes “Max would be making the right decision to step aside as a candidate and resign from Congress to focus on what is in the best interest of his daughter.”
“Anyone who commits domestic violence is not fit to serve in Congress,” Husted wrote in a statement on Thursday, saying the House Ethics Committee should investigate any credible allegations and any member found to have committed domestic violence should resign from Congress.
“I know both Max Miller and Emily Moreno, as well as their families,” Husted continued. “I am deeply saddened that their personal lives have become such a public matter, especially as it relates to their daughter, Ruthie.”
Husted’s statement comes after Bernie Moreno broke his silence on the matter earlier this week: “If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them.”
“He should not serve in the House of Representatives,” the senator wrote on social media. “I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake. I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does.”
The data appear to show Miller’s troubles catching up to him. A survey from GOP pollster Co/efficient circulating online claims Miller is running 10 points behind his own party line, with Poindexter now leading Miller by 14 points. Poindexter’s lead is a sharp increase over the pollster’s July survey, which had Miller down by 5 points. The survey by Co/efficient polled 615 likely general election voters in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District and was conducted from Aug. 5 to Aug. 6. The margin of error for the poll was plus or minus 3.94%.
President Donald Trump won the district by 11 points in 2024.
“The driver is Miller himself,” a memo from Co/efficient President Ryan Munce reads. “The data no longer supports a viable path to victory for Max Miller.”
Meanwhile, Donovan O’Neil, the Ohio director of the conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, wrote in a statement on Thursday that Miller is “unfit for office.”
“One of the reasons so many Ohioans have lost faith in politics is that too many elected officials & political figures lack the courage to say publicly what everyone knows privately,” O’Neil wrote. “If we believe character matters, we have to mean it—even when it’s politically inconvenient.”
Miller has attempted to bat down the accusations leveled by his wife, which include throwing hot water from a skillet at her body, holding a gun to her head, and fracturing their daughter’s collarbone, calling them “politically motivated” earlier this week.
The embattled Ohio Republican called for a House Ethics Committee investigation into himself on Tuesday, saying he would “file my own paperwork for an ethics investigation into myself to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family.”
“I have absolutely nothing to hide,” Miller wrote on X.
Miller has compared the accusations against him to the allegations made against Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election, and Miller maintained he will not resign from the House because of the allegations.
“For no second am I going to sit here and continue to be debased by false and baseless allegations, and be pushed out of a seat I have worked so hard to represent and done a terrific job for our community,” Miller said in an interview on CNN.
Miller also confirmed that Trump told him he was not sure if the Ohio lawmaker would win his congressional race amid the allegations, and told him that it was going to be a “tough race.”
“I reminded him of the same resilience that he had when people told him that he was going to struggle in 2016, and he became the 45th president of the United States,” Miller said to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Mehek Cooke, an Ohio-based GOP strategist, told the Washington Examiner earlier this week that Miller should “step aside.”
“This situation is not the kind of leadership Ohio Republicans deserve,” Cooke said. “I know Sen. Bernie Moreno and his daughter Emily, and what their family has endured should never have become public.
MAX MILLER CLAIMS UPLOADED PHOTO OF YOUNG DAUGHTER ‘TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT’
Cooke said the situation has become an “unnecessary distraction,” and that “Republicans cannot afford distractions or weak leadership.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Miller for comment.