Congress
Max Miller gets NRCC’s help on the airwaves
House Republicans’ national campaign arm is joining with embattled GOP Rep. Max Miller to buy TV airtime as allegations of domestic abuse against him put the previously safe north Ohio seat into play.
The NRCC is planning a joint three-week ad buy with Miller’s campaign starting Sept. 7 and totaling more than $150,000. Miller, who represents parts of the Cleveland suburbs, is not among the NRCC’s “Patriots” — the most vulnerable members who typically get the bulk of its spending.
“Democrat Brian Poindexter backs a radical far-left agenda that’s completely out of touch with northeast Ohio,” NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon said in a statement. “Ohioans have a clear choice: Max Miller will vote to stop socialist policies, and Bernie-bro Brian Poindexter will make them a reality.”
Miller said in a statement that he is grateful to Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), the NRCC chair, for his “faith in my ability to win this race and the support the NRCC is supplying.”
“Republicans know that this race is bigger than me, it’s about ensuring we maintain this majority,” he said.
Miller is facing allegations of abuse from his ex-wife Emily Moreno, the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. Both of Ohio’s GOP senators have called on Miller to resign over the allegations, which Miller denies.
A DCCC spokesperson, Riya Vashi, called the joint ad buy “a new low” for national Republicans.
“National Republicans are proudly bankrolling an alleged abuser with a lengthy history of damning accusations from multiple women,” she said. “Every House Republican who gives a dime to the NRCC owns this shameful choice.”
The ad buy comes after Miller’s Democratic challenger Brian Poindexter released his first ad of the general election earlier this week, largely focused on his own family, which is running as part of a six-figure buy on digital, cable and broadcast television.
Amid calls to drop his reelection bid last month, Miller remained defiant and refused to exit the race ahead of the deadline to pick another GOP candidate, and Republicans including members of President Donald Trump’s political circle have rallied around him since it became clear he would remain on the ballot.
Speaker Mike Johnson earlier this week said that he supports Miller’s reelection, though he later said he is not planning to campaign with Miller before the election.
Andrew Howard contributed to this report.
Sen. Ron Johnson is sending a letter Monday requesting a conference meeting to discuss the midterm results and a delay in the leadership election.
Johnson has gathered enough signatures to force the meeting under the Senate GOP’s rules and is proposing the gathering for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
“Tuesday’s result was a stunning defeat,” Johnson and his backers write in the letter to Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO. “Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice”
Republicans still expect their leadership election to be held Tuesday, where Majority Leader John Thune is so far unopposed to lead the party next year in the minority.
Sen. Chris Murphy announced Friday that he has been released from the hospital after suffering a stroke last week, but will miss “several weeks” of Senate votes while he continues to recover.
“The doctors are very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far,” the Connecticut Democrat said in a statement. “In order to take my recovery seriously and get back to work on the quickest timeline possible, I will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital today.”
He added that he remains in touch remotely with his staff and colleagues.
Murphy, who was hospitalized last weekend, said Friday that he was “diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of my brain.” Jose Suarez, the Chief of Neurosciences Critical Care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, said in a separate statement released by Murphy’s office that the senator “experienced a small hemorrhagic stroke.”
“He has shown tremendous progress, and at the current rate of improvement, we expect that he will make a full recovery following rehabilitation,” Suarez added.
Murphy is the latest senator to suffer a stroke in recent years. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) were both hospitalized for strokes in 2022. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), at that time a Senate candidate, also had a stroke in 2022 that he later described as near fatal.
The head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said his group will still be power brokers in a massive Democratic majority in a strategy memo previewing plans for next term.
“While some in the press have speculated that a majority of this size undermines our influence within the caucus, they have it exactly backwards,” Rep. Greg Casar of Texas said in the Friday memo obtained by Blue Light News. “Big majorities are good for getting big things done. Our goal is not to win a battle against other Democratic caucuses. It is to pass longstanding progressive priorities that bring down costs, root out corruption, and boost wages.”
The CPC will have at least 105 members next term, according to the memo. If Democrats had a narrow majority, progressives — and any other faction in the caucus — could have used their votes as leverage. Now that presumptive speaker Hakeem Jeffries will have as many 30 votes to spare, Democrats broadly are recalibrating their approach next term.
Casar laid out a “three-pronged” strategy for the CPC to “wield our power” in the three-page memo — tackling legislation, oversight and “holding Donald Trump to his word on populist economic policies.”
“Small majorities give corporate special interest groups the ability to block popular populist policies by recruiting a small number of opponents; a big majority gives us the advantage,” he said.
Casar previewed how the CPC can engage with Trump, noting that “one of the few bright spots for bipartisan lawmaking” was a housing bill that banned private equity firms from buying homes. He noted the caucus should push Trump to cap credit card interest rates, lower credit card fees for small businesses and lower prescription drug costs.
“While we oppose [Trump] strongly on the vast majority of fronts, we should send bills to his desk that would lower prices and raise paychecks. If he signs them, good. If he vetoes those bills, that will propel us to a continued Democratic majority and a trifecta where a Democratic president can sign these proposals into law,” he said.
Casar also outlined oversight targets beyond the administration, urging Democrats to specifically investigate corporations that use customer data for “surveillance pricing,” health care companies that are “taking advantage of seniors” through the Medicare Advantage program and artificial intelligence labs who are “putting jobs and lives at risk.”
“By focusing not just on the Trump administration but also on big corporations and billionaires, we will show the American people we are not just anti-Trump but also pro-worker and pro-consumer,” he said.
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