Republican Rep. Max Miller of Ohio has been accused of horrifying acts of violence by multiple former partners.
His ex-wife Emily Moreno—daughter of Ohio GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno—said Miller threw hot water on her, held a gun to her head, and possibly broke the collarbone of the couple’s 2-year-old daughter.
Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who served during Donald Trump’s first term as president, accused Miller of domestic violence in 2021, with Politico reporting at the time that Miller allegedly pushed her and slapped her in the face.
Politico also reports that when he was in college, Miller was accused of pushing a woman who rebuffed his sexual advances out of his room, after which the woman fell down a flight of stairs.
That’s on top of comments from dozens of people who knew Miller in his youth, who recalled a bad temper and explosive outbursts. Miller has even been arrested in the past on charges of assault, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, but escaped any serious consequences because his parents were wealthy and well-connected.
You’d hope, after all of these credible allegations of domestic violence, that Miller’s Republican colleagues in the House would push for him to resign.
Yet GOP lawmakers—including House Speaker Mike Johnson—have refused to do so.
When asked by reporters on Capitol Hill why Johnson was criticizing how Democrats handled now-former Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner, yet wasn’t condemning members of his own conference accused of violence against women, Johnson said this:
The key word there is “allegation.” We have a process here. The House Ethics Committee works on those things, if allegations are made they work through a process. So I’m not in the business of commenting on the process.
Q: Dems ditched Graham Platner after sexual assault allegations. Two members of your conference -- Max Miller and Cory Mills -- face domestic violence allegations. Why keep them in your conference?
MIKE JOHNSON: The key word there is 'allegation' pic.twitter.com/gCC0MStrzX— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026
How brave of him.
Johnson’s refusal to denounce Miller and call for his resignation is not just disturbing, but also politically stupid.
Miller represents a seat in Ohio that a non-scandal-plagued Republican would likely win. Trump carried the seat by 11 points in 2024, according to data from The Downballot, making it a seat that a typical GOP candidate would be heavily favored to win.
However, the domestic violence allegations against Miller make him uniquely vulnerable in a year like 2026, when Republicans are facing political headwinds due to Trump’s unpopularity and Americans’ anger and frustration with the GOP’s refusal to lower the cost of living.
Indeed, the abuse allegations against Miller are already becoming an issue in the race, with a Democratic-aligned super PAC making 100,000 robocalls in the district that detail Miller’s alleged conduct.
And Democrats hope to make this not just a problem for Miller, but for Johnson and the GOP, who refuse to censure or condemn Miller—as well as other credibly accused domestic abusers in their conference.
“This is unacceptable and criminal. This Rep needs to be removed from office and held accountable,” Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico wrote Tuesday morning in a post on X. “@HouseGOP and @SpeakerJohnson are you going to do something?”
Making this worse for Republicans is that Democrats nominated a strong candidate in Brian Poindexter, an ironworker who could appeal to blue-collar voters in the Rust Belt state.
“Brian Poindexter’s working class story is the story of Northeast Ohio. The son of a union machinist and grandson of an autoworker, Brian started working at 15 and has spent his life in factories, on job sites, and behind the wheel as a long-haul truck driver,” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wrote in a memo after Poindexter won the nomination in May.
The DCCC continued:
Max Miller is the embodiment of an out-of-touch, silver spoon politician. A multimillionaire heir to one of Cleveland’s most powerful real estate dynasties, Miller has never worked a day in a factory, pulled a double shift, or had to worry about grocery costs. What he has done is rack up a criminal record, face abuse allegations from his former partners and classmates, lie about his résume, help plan the January 6th rally that preceded a deadly insurrection at the Capitol — and then loan himself over a million dollars to buy himself a seat in Congress while claiming a D.C. condo as his primary residence.
Poindexter’s prospects are looking up. Inside Elections, the nonpartisan political handicapping outlet, recently changed its rating for his race against Miller from “Safe R” to “Likely R,” moving the race for Ohio’s 7th Congressional District onto the board of competitive districts for this election cycle.
Published with permission of Daily Kos
