Banks urges embattled Max Miller to quit reelection bid if allegations are true

Jim Banks said Max Miller should drop his reelection bid if the allegations against him are true, putting a senior Republican voice behind a conditional demand that now hangs over one of Ohio’s most closely watched House races. The Indiana senator made the remark on NBC News’ Meet the Press as Miller faced escalating pressure from within his own party.

Miller, a Republican who has served in the House since 2023, has denied that he abused his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. He has said he will not resign from Congress and will not abandon his House race. On Aug. 4, Miller called for a House Ethics investigation into himself, while the House Ethics Committee announced it was investigating allegations that he engaged in domestic violence and illegal drug use after Moreno accused him of physically abusing her and their daughter.

The timing has sharpened the political stakes in Ohio, where Miller’s race is already entangled with the broader Republican effort to hold the House. The controversy has also exposed an awkward test for GOP leaders: whether the party is drawing a firm line on misconduct allegations or simply waiting for the pressure to pass. NBC News reported that fellow Republicans had been increasingly calling for Miller to resign, while other reporting in early August said Republican lawmakers, Trump allies and White House officials were privately urging him to leave the race.

The pressure became visible in the campaign calendar as well. On Aug. 1, the Akron Beacon Journal reported that Miller said he would make a special live announcement on X at 10 a.m. on Aug. 2 as a deadline approached for him to decide whether to stay in the race. By Aug. 4, NBC News had posted a video segment titled Rep. Max Miller calls for House investigation into himself amid abuse allegations, underscoring how quickly the issue had shifted from a campaign problem to an institutional one.

The dispute now places House Republicans in a familiar but difficult position. Allegations involving Miller, Cory Mills and Chuck Edwards have complicated the party’s midterm message, turning what should have been a straight electoral argument into a credibility test inside the conference itself. Banks’ warning, tied to the phrase “if true,” leaves Republicans room to defend process, but it also signals that the threshold for accountability is being negotiated in public while the election-year consequences grow.