Jim Renacci, JR Majewski emerge as alternatives as Max Miller scandal grows, deadline looms

U.S. Rep. Max Miller is vowing to seek re-election this November amid allegations of abuse by his ex-wife, but already potential replacement candidates are emerging.

Miller, a Republican who has represented Northeast Ohio’s 7th Congressional District since 2023, faces domestic violence allegations by his ex-wife, the daughter of Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno. Miller and Emily Moreno were married from August 2022 to June 2025.

“I still know a lot of people, I still have good name recognition,” former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, who lost a 2022 Republican primary challenge to Gov. Mike DeWine, told Axios.

Similarly, J.R. Majewski, who previously sought to represent Ohio’s 9th Congressional District in 2024 but unofficially withdrew before the primary, said he is willing to step in.

“The answer would be yeah, I’d do it,” Majewski said in a Facebook video. “Sure, why not? But they’re too scared of me. Absolutely too scared.”

Axios previously reported that 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, is the deadline for Miller to withdraw from the race. Republicans would have until Aug. 10 to fill a vacancy through a party committee.

The growing chorus of calls is no surprise in the wake of internal Republican polling cited by NOTUS media. That poll shows Democratic challenger Brook Park Councilman Brian Poindexter leading Miller by five percentage points, besting Miller 44% to 39%.

“It’s a very sad thing, especially when you know somebody so well, to be going through that,” Trump said, according to Spectrum News. “But it is accusations and I’m going to let them figure that out.”

President Donald Trump won the district by 11 points in 2024, but hasn’t publicly called on Miller to step aside. The race could have national ramifications in what is expected to be a close election this year, with every seat potentially tipping Congress in favor of Republicans or Democrats.

For his part, Miller has defiantly denied any wrongdoing, even staging a livestream this past weekend.

“My former wife is engaging in a pattern of reporting incredible, serious and destructive allegations with absolutely no evidence,” Miller said on the livestream, according to NOTUS.

In a post to X, Emily Moreno’s spokesman Stefan Mychajliw said it was “shameful that Max Miller decided to go on a bizarre and lie-filled rant about his ex-wife to desperately try to save his political career.” Bernie Moreno previously said Miller “should not serve in the House of Representatives.”