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President Donald Trump is — for the moment — spurning pressure from his allies to intervene in Rep. Max Miller’s race as the party races against a Wednesday deadline for the embattled Ohio Republican to drop out.
Trump is staying out of the controversy over domestic abuse allegations against Miller, who served in Trump’s first-term White House. The president told reporters on Monday that it’s “a very sad thing,” describing Miller as “a very good person” and saying he plans to “let the families figure that out.”
One White House official told Semafor that Trump’s comments are “an accurate representation of” his aides’ views. But Trump and some White House aides are said to privately want Miller out of the race, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Miller “clearly only cares about himself,” a second person close to the White House said. “He’s down by 6 in the latest poll. If he cared about the president and the party, he’d drop out.”
Miller is denying the abuse allegations by ex-wife Emily Moreno, the daughter of Ohio GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno, and vowing to stay in his reelection race. But the tempest over his future is pushing the rest of the Republican Party to a breaking point.
Bernie Moreno, who said on Sunday that Miller “needs serious psychological help” and “should not serve in” Congress, said Monday that he couldn’t explain why Miller was resisting calls for his resignation or departure from the race. The senator described some of the questions “about my personal family situation” as “pretty grotesque.”
Most GOP senators, who are still in town for the summer, declined comment. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said “I don’t have any observations.”
“I haven’t seen it. I don’t deal with them people over there [in the House]; there are too many of them,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told Semafor.
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The scandal could drag down Republicans in his state, including the reelection campaign of Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, who declined to comment about Miller on Monday. Husted and GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are both in difficult races in red-leaning Ohio, where they’re fighting to hold off former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton, respectively.
“It’s not good … It’s none of my business, but it doesn’t help. It just gives people one more reason to be disgusted with Congress,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., of Miller.
Even as Miller digs in, Republicans are weighing who could replace the 37-year-old lawmaker on the ballot. One name that’s come up a lot — Jane Timken, a state senator from Ohio who chaired the state party until losing a Senate bid in 2022 — ruled out a run on Monday, adding to the bind Trump finds himself in as the party looks for an alternative.
Room for Disagreement
The allegations against Miller are “serious,” said a senior House Republican aide who also pointed out that his Ohio district’s GOP lean makes it difficult for Democrats to flip. Trump won the district by 11 points in 2024, and Miller won his race by 15 points.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said domestic abusers shouldn’t be in office and that a verdict on Miller’s fitness would come in November: “It ought to be very transparent and let the voters make a decision.”
Shelby and Burgess’ View
At this point, there’s just one thing that could change Miller’s mind about reelection: a direct demand from Trump.
Barring that, which seems unlikely as of now, and this is a real debacle for Republicans — who can’t afford one in such a tight election season.
Notable
- Miller’s own colleagues in the House GOP are among those nudging the White House for Trump to get involved, CNN reported.