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 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 in 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; he praised Miller in a 90-minute rally in which he addressed many topics, including his falsehoods about the 2020 election.
Miller won the May 3 Republican primary for Ohio's 7th Congressional district with 71.8% 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, 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.