MAGA’s Ohio Albatross
The deadline for the Republican Party to certify a replacement for Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), who has been accused by his ex-wife of domestic violence and abuse, on the ballot does not officially come until 4 p.m. today, but it’s effectively too late for the Republican Party to get him out. Now we’ll see how much the allegations against Miller can impact his bid for reelection in a district President Trump has repeatedly, comfortably won.
Under state law, Miller would have had to withdraw last week in order for a primary to be held to replace him; he would have had to drop out this weekend in order for the party to give the required 48 hours of notice of its intent to replace him. At this point, should he drop out, it’s unclear what would happen, but he has continually said he won’t. A campaign spokesperson told the New York Times Saturday he is staying in. He has denied the allegations against him.
The seat isn’t a sure pickup for Democrats. Trump won the district, which sweeps up a large swath of suburbs and small cities surrounding Cleveland, by 10 or more points in each of the last three elections for which he was on the ballot. Cook Political Report moved the race — in which Miller faces ironworker and city councilman Brian Poindexter (D) — from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican” in June; Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved it from “Likely Republican” to “Leans Republican” in July. Ohio’s Senate race is also, apparently, up for grabs in a state that has long trended red; polls show both Sherrod Brown (D) and incumbent Sen. Jon Husted (R) with small leads.
I remain interested in the contrasting abilities of the Republican Party and Democratic Party to take seriously and muscle out of the race a candidate with credible allegations against them that the candidate claims are false.
The Democrats, of course, managed to get Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to drop out by the deadline to swap him on the ballot. Republicans’ pressure campaign against Miller has not achieved the same thing, which may speak both to Miller’s sense of what Republican voters want, and the comparative tepidness of the efforts mounted by his colleagues. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), the father of Miller’s ex-wife, has pushed aggressively for Miller to exit the race, but many of his colleagues in the Senate have simply framed their opposition to Miller as a testament to their relationship with Moreno and the necessity of keeping a messy family matter out of the public eye. “I don’t know Mr. Miller’s story, but I trust Bernie so much as a good friend, and his family has such high values,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) said in one representative statement. Husted cast his appeal as personal advice, calling last week for Miller to “step aside as a candidate and resign from Congress to focus on what is in the best interest of his daughter.” Trump reportedly asked Miller to take a hard look at his polling numbers.
Your Money Goes a Long Way With Us
You’ve probably seen that we’re doing our annual TPM Journalism Fund drive. We’re nearly there, with about 10% more to go. We’ve raised $450,000 of $500,000.
As part of my pitch to you that you either contribute or become a member (or both!), I wanted to detail some of what I did last week. I wrote this morning post that you’re reading now. I also helped writers shape their stories, some of which broke major news. I coordinated with Joe, our publisher, on a YouTube livestream we’ll be doing later today. I spoke with potential new reporters who might join TPM, and with freelancers whose reporting might appear on our site. I also broke down a bunch of old cardboard boxes in the office, and painted a wall in it that needed to be touched up.
My point here is that, in other newsrooms, some of this stuff might be someone else’s job. The painting and the boxes at least. But at TPM, everyone does everything.
And that gets to what I’m really trying to say: when you contribute to us or buy a membership, the money goes to the journalists and funds the journalism. We do not spend it on consultants or on chasing the new trend or on sending Josh Marshall to speak at thinkfluencer conferences. We don’t spend it on painters. We use it to pay journalists to do journalism. (We do, I guess, buy lunch for the team in the office on Wednesdays — but we keep it reasonable, usually takeout from the Cuban place around the corner. And feeding journalists helps keep them going.)
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Trump Gets a New White House Counsel
Trump has appointed Will Scharf his White House Counsel, he said on Truth Social yesterday.
- Scharf, Trump’s current staff secretary, is often seen standing behind Trump as the president signs executive orders.
- He ran unsuccessfully for attorney general of Missouri in 2024. (He lost to Andrew Bailey, now the deputy director of the FBI, the job podcaster Dan Bongino flunked out of.) During the campaign, Scharf embraced Trump’s 2020 claims that the election was fraudulent, saying “it was stolen. It was rigged. Call it whatever you will.” He then (lawyerishly) seemed to suggest that this rigging was because states’ pandemic vote-by-mail policies that year were invalid, eschewing Trump’s more outlandish conspiracy theories.
- Scharf has also served as a lawyer to Trump, working on cases including his challenge to Jack Smith’s indictment which led to the Court conservatives’ presidential immunity ruling.
- According to the Times, Scharf has pushed back on Stephen Miller’s more dramatic ideas (a low bar for a Trump administration lawyer to clear but a bar nonetheless), including suspending habeas corpus and invoking the Insurrection Act.
Tabs
- Black voters are highly engaged in Tennessee, where the Republican state legislature eliminated the only Black majority congressional district.
- American far-right figures have been stoking anti-immigrant unrest in the UK, with some of the most-read posts on X ahead of June riots in Belfast coming from the U.S., according to a new analysis in the Guardian.
Man of the Hour
It’s Mike Lindell, the staunch Trump ally, election conspiracy theorist, and pillow magnate who, if polls are to be believed, has a strong chance of becoming Republicans’ candidate for Minnesota governor in tomorrow’s primary.
Are We at War?
Yes, but low key.
If Max Miller were to win, it would still be a win for the Democrats, because that would be the nail in the coffin of the so called “family values” GOP.
Kevin Hassett is distasteful.
re: Miller (another one!), one can say only, “Please proceed.”
I thought the invertebrates of the year were all in the WH
It’s the shuddery stuff of nightmares for some, but for a select group who admire extending ladders, giraffes and the Odyssey, one of the longest animals in the world is bound to appeal.
This creature is nneither the blue whale, nor a lion’s mane jellyfish but the humble bootlace worm, Lineus longissimus , one of the most remarkable marine invertebrates of them all.
It can stretch out longer than an Olympic swimming pool. In fact, one worm, found washed ashore after a storm at St Andrews, was recorded at an incredible 55 metres in length. Worm-sceptics suggest it may have been stretched out, because the species is also very elastic. A more usual length is a mere 15 metres. Its width is just 5–10mm.