(AFP) – US congressman Max Miller faced growing calls Monday to drop his reelection bid as domestic abuse allegations engulfing his campaign raised fears among Republicans that they could lose his seat in November’s midterm elections.
Miller, a former aide in President Donald Trump’s White House, has rejected demands that he abandon the race in conservative-leaning Ohio before a Wednesday deadline, allowing Republicans to replace him on the ballot. He has denied allegations by his former wife, Emily Moreno, that he physically abused her during their marriage and endangered their two-year-old daughter, who suffered a broken collarbone while in his care.
“No court, no agency has ever substantiated any allegation of abuse against me,” Miller said in a video posted Sunday, insisting he would remain in the race and win. But hours later, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno — Emily Moreno’s father and Miller’s former father-in-law — publicly called for him to leave Congress.
Moreno said Miller’s “increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior” had forced him to speak out after previously seeking to keep the dispute private. “If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” the senator said. He accused Miller of posing a danger to his daughter and granddaughter and said the congressman needed professional help.
Miller has filed a defamation lawsuit against his former wife and has questioned her mental health. The allegations, which appear in court filings from a bitter custody battle, include claims that he scalded her, struck her, and threatened her with a gun. The public rupture between two Trump-aligned Ohio Republicans has left party leaders facing an awkward choice: push Miller aside in a competitive district or risk accusations of hypocrisy after attacking scandal-hit Democratic candidates elsewhere.
Speaker Mike Johnson and other senior House Republicans have largely avoided commenting, while Ohio congressmen Jim Jordan and Mike Turner described the accusations as a private or judicial matter. Trump also stopped short of calling for Miller’s resignation. “So far, it’s accusations,” the president told reporters Sunday, saying he would examine the matter.
Trump carried the district by 11 percentage points in 2024, but Miller won his latest House race with just over half the vote. Democrats increasingly see an opening for Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker leading Miller by five points in a recent poll conducted by a Republican firm.
© 2024 AFP
