Bernie Moreno says his former son-in-law Max Miller is unfit for Congress after abuse allegations
Rep. Max Miller is digging in. So is Sen. Bernie Moreno. The Ohio Republican congressman said Sunday he will stay in the race for a
Rep. Max Miller is digging in. So is Sen. Bernie Moreno.
The Ohio Republican congressman said Sunday he will stay in the race for a third term in the U.S. House despite domestic abuse allegations from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, who is the senator’s daughter. Hours later, Bernie Moreno issued a harsh public denunciation and said Miller should not serve in Congress.
Family split spills into public view
Miller, first elected in 2022, used a livestream on X to reject the allegations and said he had no intention of leaving the campaign. “I’m not getting out of this race, and I’m winning in November,” he said, according to local reporting. He also said no criminal charges have been filed and that no court or government agency has substantiated abuse claims against him.
The congressman accused news outlets of treating allegations as fact and said the coverage had prompted death threats against his staff. In an unusual move, he said he would post divorce and custody documents in a public Dropbox folder so voters could review them.
Miller also said he “categorically deny[ied] abusing” his former wife and claimed he has a 2024 sworn statement from her saying her ex-husband did not harm their child.
Moreno breaks his silence
Bernie Moreno, who had kept quiet publicly during the family’s custody fight, said the situation had become too serious to ignore. He described the past two years as “pure hell” for his wife, daughter and the rest of the family, and said he feared for his 2-year-old granddaughter when Miller has custody.
The senator said Miller needs “serious psychological help” and called him a danger to Emily Moreno. He also said Miller fails any basic standard of character required for elected office.
The public clash carries political weight in Ohio, where Miller is facing voters again in November. But it also reaches beyond one congressional seat. It puts a sitting lawmaker, a powerful Republican senator and a private domestic dispute into the same frame, with each side now making its case in public.
Moreno said he had hoped to keep the matter private out of concern for his family. That changed once, in his words, Miller’s behavior became “increasingly erratic and dangerous.”
“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Moreno said.
