Bernie Moreno says Rep. Max Miller is unfit for Congress over abuse claims

Bernie Moreno said his former son-in-law, Rep. Max Miller, should not serve in Congress after abuse allegations from Moreno’s daughter, Emily Moreno, turned a family rupture into a public test of Republican accountability. Moreno, a Republican U.S. senator from Ohio, later called Miller “a danger” as Miller insisted he would stay in the race for another term in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District.

The allegations surfaced publicly in July 2026 and centered on claims that Miller abused his ex-wife. Reporting on the dispute included accusations that Miller threw hot water on Emily Moreno and held a gun to her head, claims Miller has denied. Miller has also publicly rejected all allegations of misconduct and has said he will continue his reelection bid, setting up a campaign in which his personal conduct is now inseparable from his political survival.

Moreno sharpened his criticism on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026, after Miller said he would not leave the contest. The senator said Miller should not serve in Congress and said he needed serious psychological help, an extraordinary rebuke from a sitting Republican senator aimed at a member of his own party and his own family circle. The comments followed Moreno’s earlier sidestep, when he declined Friday to answer whether Miller should remain on the ballot.

The dispute has widened beyond the family. Democrats see a chance to make Miller’s seat more competitive, and some Republicans are privately uneasy about the fallout as Miller seeks a third term in a district that has become a political flashpoint. The combination of abuse allegations, a hardening family split, and public condemnation from a U.S. senator has put pressure on party leaders to decide whether they treat the case as a question of character and fitness or as a problem to be managed.

The conflict is also moving through the courts. A restraining-order request and a defamation lawsuit have accompanied the allegations in Cuyahoga County, adding a legal front to a campaign already marked by accusations, denials, and a rare public break between two Republicans tied by politics and marriage.