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Tag: max miller
Scott Perry

Republican Strategists Wail As More House Seats Are Seen Slipping Away

With 34 days until the midterms, Republican strategists see at least five U.S. House seats are a lost cause for their party as President Donald Trump’s abysmal approval rating threatens to drag the GOP into the political abyss.

Punchbowl News reported that Republicans are broadly resigned to losses in California’s 48th District, Iowa’s 1st District, Nebraska’s 2nd District, New Jersey’s 7th District, and Pennsylvania’s 7th District—all GOP-held seats that in a neutral environment would be highly competitive.

“Nearly every senior Republican and Democrat involved in 2026 believes these five R seats are all but lost,” Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman wrote in a post on X.

Three of those contests (CA-48, NE-02, and NJ-07) are currently rated as “Lean Democratic” races by the Cook Political Report, while Iowa’s 1st and Pennsylvania’s 7th are still in the “toss-up” category. Given that even Republicans say they are the underdogs in these seats, it suggests that the political handicapping organizations are slower to react to the electoral landscape and thus their current ratings may not reflect the true peril the GOP is in.

What’s more, Punchbowl reported that a handful of other districts are also close to being cooked. They include:

Punchbowl said these four seats “are growing more difficult for Republicans but still within reach.” It’s why even the typically gun-shy race-rating groups have declared that it’s “almost impossible” for Republicans to keep control of the House.

Indeed, Republicans’ political situation is so dire that many in the party are downright despondent, shocked at how their party went from riding a high in November 2024 to now bracing for the kind of blue wave that could take down GOP lawmakers in seats Trump won by double-digit margins.

Independent journalist Tara Palmeri said one unnamed Trump ally told her the following at Trump’s midterm convention in Texas three weeks ago: “It’s going to be a tsunami. Total wipe out. Anyone saying we’re going to hold the Senate, that’s not going to happen. They’re delusional. Get ready for impeachment. Everyone needs a lawyer now.”

Another anonymous Republican operative told her this at an event during the two-day convention event: “What are we doing here? We’re all going to lose. … We’ve known this is all over for two months. It’s over. I guess we’re just supposed to party until then?”

Personally, I’ve been covering political campaigns and elections for 14 years now, and I have never seen one side more freaked out about what they are seeing than Republicans are right now. The fact that GOP operatives are this miserable and admitting that they are about to get their asses handed to them is, for lack of a better word, stunning.

Republicans’ collective freakout suggests their internal polling matches how bad the public polls are for their party.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Democrats currently hold an 8.8-percentage-point lead on the generic ballot, according to election analyst Nate Silver’s polling average.

Democrats generic ballot 2026 Chart by Andrew Mangan/Source: Silver Bulletin/Created with Datawrapper

“A D +8.5 generic ballot (likely bigger among likely voters) would produce a very blue map,” Nate Silver wrote Monday in a post on X.

Ultimately, Republicans are in this position because of Trump’s idiotic tariffs and boondoggle of a war in Iran—two economically disastrous policies that the cowardly Republican Party refused to stop.

Trump’s tariffs helped spike inflation, while his war has caused gas prices to surge. And both are squeezing Americans financially, with a growing number of Trump’s own voters saying they regret their votes.

Given that gas prices are unlikely to meaningfully drop before early voting starts, Republicans are in a massive amount of trouble. It’s no wonder they are panicking.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

What's Their Excuse? Republicans Send Regrets To Trump's Midterm Confab

What's Their Excuse? Republicans Send Regrets To Trump's Midterm Confab


President Donald Trump will host a midterm convention this upcoming Wednesday and Thursday, which he absurdly says will help Republicans hold onto their House and Senate majorities this fall.

But even many Republicans admit the production is a shambolic affair that won’t help the GOP with voters and may even hurt their electoral prospects since Trump cannot stay on a palatable message.

And thus, numerous Republican lawmakers are not planning to go, making up excuses for their absences in a likely effort to avoid being the target of Trump’s wrath.

Rep. Max Miller, the Ohio Republican facing an unexpectedly tough reelection race due to domestic violence accusations, told The New York Times he won’t be going because he is “staying home to campaign and spend time with family.”

Rep. Nick LaLota, Republican of New York, told Politico that he is skipping the event in order to take his daughter to visit colleges.

Florida Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar told CNN she has events in her district she can’t miss. The same went for vulnerable GOP Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan and Zach Nunn of Iowa, who told Politico they have events back home on the same day.

“I just felt I’d be more useful in my district,” Barrett said to Politico. “I travel a lot for this job and if I can be back home and see my family and do the job back home as well, then that’s sort of what I lean toward doing.”

Vice President JD Vance was asked on Thursday about the poor attendance from GOP lawmakers at his boss’ event, and he claimed that it wasn’t a big deal.

“No, that doesn’t concern me,” Vance said. “We don’t need a congressman in a tight race to be there in all cases. Sometimes it might be better if that guy’s out there raising money. But I think people are going to make a determination: What is the best way for me to spend my time as a candidate?”

However, it’s not just vulnerable Republicans who aren’t going. Lawmakers in safe seats are also skipping, citing all sorts of reasons.

Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole said he is going to a “dove hunt” and thus can’t make it. Also scheduled to attend the hunt are Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, and Oklahoma GOP Reps. Kevin Hern and Frank Lucas, putting their attendance in question.

“I had stuff already planned in my congressional district, or I would be there,” Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky told NewsNation about why he won’t be at the convention.

Other Republicans said they were undecided about going, citing not the politics but the insane cost of entry. It’s at least a $25,000 donation for two tickets, the ability to book one hotel room at an additional cost, and entry to a welcome event. What a steal!

“It’s $25,000, apparently—I just got a bill,” Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told Politico, saying because of that he’s “not sure” if he’ll go.

Ultimately, while Vance said he’s not worried about lackluster attendance, you better believe Trump will take it poorly. He is obsessed with optics and looking like a tough guy, and if the convention has sparse crowds, you can bet an infamous Trump tantrum is on the horizon.

We’ve got our popcorn ready. This thing is going to be a mess.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos


How Fox News Is Trying To Cover Up Max Miller's Domestic Abuse Scandal

How Fox News Is Trying To Cover Up Max Miller's Domestic Abuse Scandal

Fox News is keeping its viewers in the dark about the gruesome allegations that Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) physically and emotionally abused his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and his 2-year-old daughter. Since late July, when the story began receiving national attention, Fox has given it only 6 minutes of airtime — and none at all in primetime.

The New York Times — following a story from Mother Jones about Miller’s custody dispute and alleged history of violent behavior — published an article on what it termed the “sordid, years-long family drama” on July 28. The paper detailed a flurry of accusations against Miller from court filings across multiple lawsuits and countersuits, all of which Miller, a former Trump aide, denies:

Ms. Moreno, the daughter of Senator Bernie Moreno, also an Ohio Republican, has said that Mr. Miller scalded her chest and stomach by throwing hot water from a skillet at her body; held a gun to her head; pushed her against a wall and hit her head; and fractured their daughter’s collarbone and bruised her shoulder.
According to court documents, their daughter at one point told Ms. Moreno, “Daddy kill you.”

Since then, Sen. Moreno has publicly declared his son-in-law unfit for office; Ohio’s other Republican senator, Jon Husted, has called on Miller to resign; questions from reporters have forced Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and Trump himself to weigh in; the president has reportedly raised concerns with the congressman about his reelection campaign; and the deadline has passed to replace him on the November ballot.

While Fox responded to the scandal with a mere six minutes of coverage, its right-wing competitors at Newsmax provided one hour and 43 minutes of airtime, according to a Media Matters review.

The bulk of Fox’s coverage of the Miller saga came from two correspondent reports on Fox’s “news” flagship Special Report and four headline reports (three of which ran on weekends). The scandal has been mentioned just once by one of the network’s “opinion” stars, during a July 31 exchange on the panel show The Five.

At the end of a lengthy segment about purportedly radical Democratic candidates, Jessica Tarlov, the program’s Democratic co-host, asked whether Miller, “who has been accused of abusing his wife and his daughter” should be “thrown out” of the GOP. Greg Gutfeld replied, “Sure,” before admitting he was unaware “what you're talking about” and pointing out that the story wasn’t “in the A-block.”

The story wasn’t in The Five’s A-block — or indeed, any block — in the days since. Nor has Miller’s saga and the GOP’s response to it drawn attention from the Fox star vehicles hosted by Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Jesse Watters, or the hosts of its high-profile morning show, Fox & Friends. And across the “news” and “opinion” sides, no Republican politician interviewed on Fox has had to field the sort of uncomfortable questions about Miller they’ve faced on other networks.

While scandal-plagued Republicans seeking an opportunity to do damage control have for years made a beeline to Fox’s greenrooms, Miller has instead sought to deny and defuse the allegations through interviews on CNN and Newsmax, which have significantly lower ratings (and in CNN’s case is despised by the president and his base).

Did every single Fox “opinion” host independently decide not to throw Miller a lifeline? Did they and the bulk of their “news side” colleagues all determine that there was no value in informing their viewers about the allegations against him, even as the GOP became embroiled in the scandal?

Fox’s non-coverage of the Miller scandal is reminiscent of how the network left then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for dead back in 2021, following a Times report that Gaetz was under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking.

For his part, Gaetz — who routinely feuded with Miller when they were both in the House, left office under a cloud of scandal in 2024, and is now a host at the far-right One America News — has used his own show to decry Miller’s “sad train wreck.”

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters

Kat Cammack

Some Republicans Finally Urge Alleged Abuser Miller To Drop Out As Deadline Looms

Ohio GOP Rep. Max Miller’s response to horrific domestic violence allegations has been a complete train wreck, with Miller looking worse and worse as he attempts to deny that he was ever violent toward his ex-wife and two-year-old daughter.

First it was releasing a nude photo of his toddler to try to claim he did not break her collarbone. Then it was releasing a string of text messages and emails to deny that he withheld the toddler’s beloved blue bunny stuffed animal, but which only proved that he did just that.

The saga has Republicans terrified that Miller will cost them a House seat in November’s midterms that should otherwise easily stay in the GOP column.

However, few Republicans have publicly called for Miller to step aside—likely because Miller has thus far dug in his heels and said he will fund his own campaign, and condemning him publicly would just add ammo for Democrats to use this fall.

The line among many House Republicans seems to be that the abuse allegations are “sad” and that right now they want a House Ethics Committee probe that Miller himself initiated to play out before they comment on whether they think Miller should step aside.“There’s all sorts of domestic events going on with 435 members of Congress all the time, it’s not my business to get engaged in it,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told Politico, adding that “we have to allow this process to play out. It’s just begun.”

Ick.

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), chair of the GOP Women’s Caucus, used similar wording.

“These are deeply troubling allegations, and they deserve a fair, thorough review. Due process is not optional—it is how the truth is established and justice is served. This is clearly an evolving situation, with new allegations continuing to emerge, which is all the more reason to let the full process play out and follow the facts wherever they lead,” Cammack said in a statement. “The Ethics Committee is now reviewing these allegations, and I respect that process. Above all, this is an incredibly painful situation for everyone involved, and my heart especially breaks for the little girl caught in the middle.”

So much for the women’s caucus sticking up for women.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was asked if he agrees with Ohio GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno—Miller’s ex-father-in-law—that Miller should not only resign but be in prison, and he demurred.

“It’s a family matter and, um, I don’t have any observations beyond that,” Thune replied. What a backbone he has.Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Husted, an Ohio Republican facing a challenging reelection in the Buckeye State, at first echoed Thune’s sentiments.

“Let’s focus on letting them sort through this on a family level,” Husted told Newsmax on Tuesday when asked if Miller should drop out.

But by Thursday, after the disturbing bunny withholding story caught fire, Husted had changed his tone to call on Miller to step aside—likely because Miller depressing turnout in his House seat could also hurt Husted’s odds at reelection.

“I know both Max Miller and Emily Moreno, as well as their families,” Husted wrote in a post on X. “I am deeply saddened that their personal lives have become such a public matter, especially as it relates to their daughter, Ruthie.”

But Husted added, “Given everything they are facing, I do not see how a campaign for Congress benefits any of them. I believe 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. Years from now, I believe he will look back and know it was the right choice for her.”

Time, however, is running out for Republicans to save this seat.The deadline for Ohio Republicans to replace Miller’s name on the ballot is Monday evening. And as of Friday, when this article was written, Miller had not dropped out.

Ultimately, if Republicans weren’t cowards, they wouldn’t be in this situation at all. Miller’s domestic violence allegations had been known for years, yet Republicans were silent and refused to punish him or call on him to step aside.

Now, they may pay for that cowardice with the loss of a winnable House seat.

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