{"id":27125,"date":"2026-08-04T09:36:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T04:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27125"},"modified":"2026-08-04T09:36:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T04:36:43","slug":"scoop-ex-gop-rep-jim-renacci-mulls-house-comeback-bid-if-max-miller-drops-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27125","title":{"rendered":"Scoop: Ex-GOP Rep. Jim Renacci mulls House comeback bid if Max Miller drops out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/XT_OCimWuA_eO50DBTBdf4bHoFs=\/195x731:5494x3712\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/04\/1785813016547.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Former Rep. Jim Renacci told Axios in a phone interview Monday night that he may mount a comeback run for Congress if Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) drops his bid for reelection.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>As a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2018\/05\/09\/ohio-primary-election-results\" target=\"_blank\">Republican nominee for U.S. Senate<\/a> and congressman from the district, Renacci would likely be a serious contender to take Miller&#8217;s place on the ballot.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;I still know a lot of people, I still have good name recognition,&#8221; Renacci told Axios.<\/li>\n<li>Miller, who is facing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/02\/max-miller-moreno-abuse-allegations\" target=\"_blank\">allegations of domestic abuse<\/a>, has denied wrongdoing and maintained he plans to run for reelection despite pressure from fellow Republicans to end his campaign.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving the news: <\/strong>President Trump told Miller in a phone call on Monday that &#8220;things aren&#8217;t looking good&#8221; and that the Ohio Republican&#8217;s reelection would be tough, Axios&#8217; Alex Isenstadt and Marc Caputo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/04\/trump-max-miller-moreno-election-house\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Miller said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/02\/max-miller-moreno-abuse-allegations\" target=\"_self\">video<\/a> posted to social media Sunday that he will not drop his bid for reelection and denied allegations that he abused his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and their young daughter.<\/li>\n<li>Shortly after his announcement, his ex-father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/berniemoreno\/status\/2083936589424582942\" target=\"_blank\">post on X<\/a> that Miller is &#8220;a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Several House Democrats have called for Miller to resign from Congress, with some lawmakers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/03\/max-miller-expel-congress-democrats-allegations\" target=\"_blank\">floating expulsion<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>&#8220;I&#8217;m getting calls from everybody,&#8221; Renacci told Axios. &#8220;Many people have asked me to consider, if he did step out, if I would be interested, only because it&#8217;s my old seat.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;The people that have called me are donors and actually a campaign team, and a whole bunch of people said, &#8216;We&#8217;ll get behind you, we&#8217;ve got the team, we&#8217;ve got the donors, we&#8217;ve got the money,'&#8221; he said.<\/li>\n<li>Renacci said he told callers that &#8220;if Max Miller would step out and ask me to step in, I would consider it then. But until then, the answer is it&#8217;s Max Miller&#8217;s seat until he decides it&#8217;s not his seat.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Yes, but: <\/strong>&#8220;I truly don&#8217;t believe Max is leaving, I think Max is going to stay in the race,&#8221; Renacci said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Between the lines: <\/strong>There is polling in the field right now testing Renacci&#8217;s viability as a candidate, the ex-congressman confirmed.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;I have been told they&#8217;re going to &#8230; put me in a poll just to see, so it sounds like all that&#8217;s happening,&#8221; he said.<\/li>\n<li>If Miller dropped out before the close of business on Tuesday, a special primary would be held to replace him on the ballot. If he withdrew after that, party leaders would have until Aug. 10 to pick a replacement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The bottom line: <\/strong>&#8220;We&#8217;ll see what happens,&#8221; said Renacci. &#8220;There&#8217;s a couple days left and I&#8217;m very close with Max. I believe these are allegations that, you know, he&#8217;s going to have to make this decision.&#8221;<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Rep. Jim Renacci told Axios in a phone interview Monday night that he may mount a comeback run for Congress if Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) drops his bid for reelection. Why it matters: As a former Republican nominee for U.S. Senate and congressman from the district, Renacci would likely be a serious contender to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/XT_OCimWuA_eO50DBTBdf4bHoFs=\/195x731:5494x3712\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/04\/1785813016547.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}