Introduction
Max Leonard Miller (born November 13, 1988) is an American Republican politician and former aide to Donald Trump. Since 2023, he is the U.S. representative for Ohio's 7th congressional district.
Early life and education
Miller grew up in Northeast Ohio and graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 2007. He attended the University of Arizona before transferring to Cleveland State University, from which he received his bachelor's degree in 2013.
Early career
Miller worked at a Lululemon store in Ohio before joining the Marine Reserve in 2013. He was a corporal and made no deployments. In 2019, he was transferred from the Selected Marine Corps Reserve to the Individual Ready Reserve.
Trump aide
After initially working for Marco Rubio's campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Miller left the campaign in February 2016 and joined Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. After working as a Trump campaign aide, Miller became a political appointee in the Trump administration. He was a confidential assistant in the United States Department of the Treasury in 2017, then a lead advance representative in the White House Office, and then associate director of the Presidential Personnel Office and special assistant to the president. In June 2020, Miller was among the aides who accompanied Trump on his photo op at St. John's Church; a month later, he was appointed "deputy campaign manager for presidential operations" on Trump's reelection campaign. A favorite of Trump, Miller praised him as "the greatest POTUS this country has ever had." He helped organize the 2020 Republican convention, and was a Trump negotiator for the presidential debates.
In 2018, Miller was one of several Trump administration officials who were scrutinized for their inexperience and lack of qualifications. Miller's LinkedIn page falsely claimed that he was a Marine recruiter and that he had graduated from college in 2011, rather than 2013. After The Washington Post raised questions about his biography, Miller removed the claims and called them mistakes made by a relative, who he said made the LinkedIn page on his behalf.
In 2020 and 2021, Miller promoted Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was "rigged". In June 2021, referring to a pro-Trump mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Miller told The Washington Times, "What happened on January 6 was not an insurrection." In 2021, Trump appointed Miller to be one of 55 members of the board of trustees for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, an unpaid, part-time position. In mid-December 2021, Miller was one of six people the January 6 committee subpoenaed to produce documents relating to the rally preceding the Capitol attack and deposed in January 2022.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2022
In February 2021, Miller launched a campaign for Congress in the redrawn 7th district. The district overlapped with what had previously been the 16th, represented by two-term Republican Anthony Gonzalez. Miller was initially set to face Gonzalez in the Republican primary, but Gonzalez announced in September 2021 that he would not seek reelection to a third term, denouncing Trump as a "cancer for the country" and citing the likelihood of a "brutally hard primary" against Miller, family considerations, and a wave of threats against him. Miller ran after Gonzalez voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection, arising from the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Miller moved back to Ohio, purchasing a home in Rocky River, in order to challenge Gonzalez.
In June 2021, in his first rally since the January 6 attack, Trump appeared in Wellington, Ohio, with Miller; Trump praised Miller in a 90 minute rally in which Trump addressed many topics, including his falsehoods about the 2020 election.
Miller won the May 3 Republican primary for Ohio's 7th Congressional district with 71.9% of the vote.
After announcing his candidacy, Miller was endorsed by Trump and the Club for Growth. He also received support from Ohio Right to Life, Ohio Value Voters, and Congressman Jim Banks. He defeated Democratic nominee Matthew Diemer in the November 8 general election.
Tenure
Miller was elected by other incoming Republicans to represent them on the Steering Committee, which determines what committees members sit on.
On January 31, 2023, Miller introduced a resolution to remove Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. The resolution passed two days later.
Caucus memberships
- Republican Main Street Partnership
Controversy
On August 15th 2023, Miller demanded Lizzie Marbach, the director of communications at Ohio Right to Life, delete a post in which she stated “There's no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone.” Stating “This is one of the most bigoted tweets I have ever seen. Delete it, Lizzie. Religious freedom in the United States applies to every religion. You have gone too far.” Individuals such as Matt Walsh, Christina Pushaw and Democrat U.S Representative Ilhan Omar who is a Muslim, all rebuked Millers statements.He later apologized after facing backlash for attempting to silence religious views he disagrees with.
Personal life
Miller is the grandson of Samuel H. Miller, the former co-chairman emeritus of Forest City Realty Trust. His grandmother, Ruth Miller, was a candidate for Ohio's 22nd congressional district in 1980. His uncle is Aaron David Miller, a scholar of Middle East studies.
Miller is Jewish. Trump appointed him to the Holocaust Memorial Council in December 2020.
Miller dated Trump White House aide Stephanie Grisham, a twice-divorced mother of two, who is twelve years his senior, from 2019 to 2020.
Miller became engaged in 2021 to Emily Moreno. They married in August 2022 at Donald Trump's Bedminster, NJ country club. The couple is expecting their first child in November 2023. Emily Mareno Miller, as she is now known, joined the Board of Directors of Ohio Right To Life in June 2023.
Miller and David Kustoff are currently the only Jewish members of the Republican Party in Congress.
Legal issues
Miller pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges in 2007, after being charged with assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest; the charges were later dismissed as part of a diversion program. In 2009, he was charged with underage drinking; after he pleaded no contest, that charge was dismissed under a first-time offenders' program. In 2010, Miller pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct stemming from a late-night physical altercation in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. In 2011, he was charged with "operating a vehicle without reasonable control" and operating a vehicle impaired (OVI) after crashing his Jeep Laredo, and told officers that he had had "two to three beers and several shots" the night before and "woke up in urine-soaked pants". Miller pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and failure to control. In 2018 and 2021, he called the events "youthful mistakes".
In October 2021, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who had dated Miller, said he had "been physically abusive" to her, "cheated" on her, and "lied" to her. Miller filed a defamation lawsuit against her. Judge Emily Hagan rejected Grisham's appeals to dismiss the case.