As Race Tightens, Republicans Resume Tepid Support For Max Miller in Ohio

The embattled congressman, accused of throwing scalding water at his ex-wife and breaking his daughter's collarbone, rebuffed earlier Republican calls to drop out.

After Representative Max Miller, the Republican from Ohio accused of physically abusing his ex-wife and young daughter, rebuffed calls from his own party to drop out of his re-election campaign, aides close to President Trump stepped in.

They advised Republicans who had demanded Mr. Miller's resignation to quiet down and let him try to win, according to two people familiar with the conversations who were granted anonymity to speak candidly.

They also spoke and texted directly with Mr. Miller, urging him to stop talking about his family drama in public.

Their warnings have largely been heeded, forcing many Republicans to walk an awkward line between helping Mr. Miller win and staying away from his embattled campaign. The pivot from urging Mr. Miller to withdraw his candidacy reflects the importance of his seat to the Republican Party's effort to retain control of Congress. At a time when both parties are contending with the possibility that Mr. Trump's unpopularity, along with rising costs, will sweep Democrats to power, the G.O.P. can ill afford to lose what should have been an easy win in a conservative part of the country.

Mr. Miller is fighting to win a third term in a Cleveland-area district that Mr. Trump won in 2024 by double digits. It was considered safely Republican until this summer, when Mr. Miller's ugly custody battle with his ex-wife -- the daughter of Senator Bernie Moreno, another Republican from Ohio -- spilled into the public square, with each portraying the other as violent, unstable and dishonest.

The dueling allegations detailed in court documents, along with wavering Republican support for Mr. Miller, have proved to be a windfall for Mr. Miller's Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker. In the last quarter, Mr. Poindexter's campaign raised more than $2.4 million, according to an official familiar with the matter, granted anonymity to discuss numbers not yet made public.

As the race has tightened, political committees aligned with Republican House leaders have spent more than $5 million on the race, according to the ad-tracking service AdImpact.

Mr. Trump has told his aides he feels loyalty toward Mr. Miller, who has been devoted to the president since his 2016 campaign, one of the people said. But over the weekend, when Mr. Trump traveled to Ohio for a rally designed to support down-ballot candidates in tight races, Mr. Miller was nowhere to be found and did not merit a mention from the president.

"You have to go out and vote Republican," Mr. Trump told the crowd at the rally on Saturday. "That includes for these great people sitting right over here."

Beside him were the state's Republican candidates for Senate and governor -- and two congressional hopefuls. Mr. Miller was invited but was unable to make it, a spokeswoman said, because "his district schedule had been set in stone for months and he didn't want to cancel on any of his constituents."

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"It's unfortunate that timing didn't work out," Abigail Angelos, the spokeswoman, said in a statement. "President Trump agreed that Rep. Miller's time would be best spent campaigning in the district."

Asked what Mr. Miller was doing during the rally, Ms. Angelos said he was spending time with his family.

In August, as the deadline for Mr. Miller to withdraw neared, Mr. Trump called him and urged him to consider his odds. He did not ask him to drop out or rescind his endorsement. Mr. Moreno and Senator Jon Husted, another Republican from Ohio facing his own tough re-election bid, both called Mr. Miller unfit for office and pressed him to resign.

Mr. Miller's ex-wife, Emily Moreno, has accused him of throwing scalding water at her and fracturing their young daughter's collarbone. Mr. Miller has denied the allegations and said his ex-wife and former father-in-law fabricated stories to sabotage his career.

With early voting underway in Ohio, Mr. Poindexter is seeking to remind voters in the conservative-leaning district what Republicans said about his opponent before Trump aides told them to fall in line.

Mr. Poindexter's campaign is planning to launch a digital ad this week featuring audio of Mr. Moreno telling reporters that Mr. Miller once withheld his daughter's favorite blue bunny toy during a custody exchange, the official said. A spokeswoman for the Ohio Democratic Party said it was planning to send out mail pieces this week featuring Republicans calling on Mr. Miller to resign.

Republicans have sought to defend the seat by depicting Mr. Poindexter as a criminal with a long rap sheet.

During his teenage years in Cleveland, he picked up a string of misdemeanor charges, including assault. A single felony charge came when he and some buddies "got in a scrap" at a local beach, he said.

Mr. Miller has acknowledged that the lack of support from the party's leadership has hurt his chances.

"This was Republican-on-Republican violence that the Democrats are now using to bludgeon me in a general election," he said on a conservative talk show in Ohio last week.