Follow the Money: Who Does Max Miller Represent?
As I’ve discussed in previous candidate profiles, recent research has confirmed what most Americans instinctively know: that big money dominates US politics. Specifically, Barber (2016) and Kujala (2020) show that members of Congress represent their campaign donors instead of average citizens. Because most campaign donors are millionaires and roughly 15% of all campaign funding comes from 700 billionaires, both parties represent the rich: the Democratic Party represents socially liberal elites and the Republican Party represents socially conservative elites, but neither party represents average Americans.
For this week’s profile, I’ll be covering Republican representative Max Miller (OH-7). He’s a young and relatively new legislator with little name recognition outside of Ohio, but his campaign finance history is worth exploring. Congress is full of charlatans and grifters whose support comes primarily from rich people, but Miller still manages to look bad by comparison. His campaign finance data almost reads as parody. But there’s nothing funny about it: he represents exactly what is wrong with Congress.
Who is Max Miller?
Max Miller was born to a rich family and grew up in Shaker Heights outside of Cleveland Ohio. His grandfather, Samuel Miller, had been a wealthy and well-connected real estate dealer and one of Cleveland’s major power brokers in the second half of the 20th century. In 2021, an article in Politico characterized him as follows:
He was born an heir of two of the most important families and arguably the most important company in the modern history of Cleveland, the grandson of business kingpin and political power broker Sam Miller and Ruth Ratner Miller, the oldest of the two sons of Abe and Barb Miller and a namesake of Max and Leonard Ratner—the original president and chair, respectively, of Forest City Enterprises, the colossal real estate firm and a font of the clan’s riches, privilege and prestige. Miller lived on a lush corner lot in a large tan home with first-rate real-estate-listing features like a grand foyer and a greenhouse and a sauna and an indoor pool.
Despite a very privileged family background that made success almost inevitable, Max Miller got off to a slow start after graduating high school in 2007. After enrolling at the University of Arizona, he would later transfer to Cleveland State University to complete his degree, which he did in 2013. After completing his undergraduate degree in six years (but apparently lying about it on LinkedIn–more on that later) and briefly working at a Lululemon, he joined the Marine Reserves, but made no deployments.
Max Miller started his personal political career as part of the Rubio 2016 campaign after getting connected to it through his cousin, Eli Miller. After Little Marco’s ill-fated campaign fell apart, Max’s cousin Eli–now a senior finance official in the Trump campaign–helped Max get his foot in the door with the Trump team. It appears that during the Rubio and Trump campaigns, Miller was little more than a low-level “advance runner”--basically what DC calls a campaign staffer who is involved in event planning and image management.
A consummate political climber, Miller rose quickly within Trump’s orbit despite having almost no qualifications other than family connections, wealth, and a willingness to prostrate himself before Trump. His lack of qualifications was notable enough to earn him a write-up in a 2018 Washington Post article. When discussing Miller’s personal history, the article notes:
On his LinkedIn page, Miller said he attended Cleveland State University from 2007 to 2011. A Cleveland State spokesman confirmed that Miller, who previously attended other schools, graduated in 2013.
Miller described himself on his LinkedIn page as a Marine recruiter and said he worked for the presidential campaigns of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Trump. But after The Post raised questions about his biography, Miller removed the dates of his education and the claim that he was a Marine recruiter.
What’s worth noting here is his (apparent) willingness to both lie over something small–like when he graduated–and then (apparently) lie again by throwing an unnamed family member under the bus when questioned about it.
Miller quickly ingratiated himself to Trump despite some concerns within the White House about his violent temper: at one point, while he was dating then-White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, he allegedly pushed and slapped Grisham after she accused him of cheating on her. Friends of hers–both within and outside of the White House–support these claims, and Grisham herself wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post in which she not only claims that Miller physically abused her but also that she told Donald and Melania Trump about the physical abuse. They apparently did nothing to help her. Miller sued Grisham for defamation the same day that Grisham’s letter was published, but the lawsuit was later dismissed with prejudice and both parties agreeing to pay their own attorneys’ fees.
Grisham’s claims apparently did little to change President Trump’s views on Max Miller. In fact, Miller’s sycophantic submission to Trump paid off when, after January 6, Republican representative and former NFL player Anthony Gonzalez voted in favor of impeaching Trump. Vindictive as always, Trump endorsed Miller to run against Gonzalez in 2022. In the face of a Trump-supported primary challenge and uncertainty about the congressional redistricting process in Ohio, Gonzalez announced in September 2021 that he would not run for re-election in 2022. This meant that Max Miller would now be running for an effectively open seat.
Although Max faced three Republican challengers in the 2022 primary election for Ohio’s seventh congressional district, the combination of Trump’s endorsement and no incumbent to contend with made it a cakewalk for Miller. He won in a landslide, winning 71.8% of the votes in the Republican primary. Nobody else got more than 14%.
Mr. Miller Goes to Washington
In the 2022 general election for the OH-7 seat, the Democratic Party failed to put financial support behind a serious challenger, and Miller out-raised his opponent by a factor of more than 10 to 1. Since he’s rich, he was able to take out a loan of over $1 million to finance his own campaign–about 4 times as much as his opponent raised altogether. Overall, less than 11% of his campaign contributions came in the form of small individual donors, while about 89% came from what I’m calling “Big Money”--large individual contributions, PAC contributions, the million-dollar loan he was able to take out, and transfers from other authorized committees.
The table below summarizes the sources of Miller’s campaign funding sources in the 2022 election and his 2024 re-election.
While his Small Donor % was already low in 2022 (10.75%), his campaign finance data in the 2024 election was, somehow, even more elite-oriented. In the 2024 election cycle, about 99% of his funding came from large individual donations, PAC contributions, or transfers from other authorized committees. An almost unbelievably small percentage of his campaign funding–0.13%--came from small individual contributions of under $200.
It’s worth looking at the raw 2024 data to understand just how little financial support Miller received from average citizens of Ohio:
While Miller received over $777,000 in the form of large individual contributions and more than $571,000 through PAC contributions, only $2,610.13 came from small individual contributions of under $200. This means that for every $100 he received in small donations, he received another $29,700 in large donations and $21,800 through PAC contributions.
I cannot emphasize this enough. Basically none of his money came through small donations. Only receiving $2,610.13 from small donors should be an absolute embarrassment to Max Miller, but I’m not sure he’s capable of embarrassment–he’s too rich, out of touch, and narcissistic to care.
Who Does Max Miller Represent?
While the sources of Miller’s funding in 2022 appear to be broadly ideologically conservative, there was a notable shift towards lobbying groups associated with Israel in 2024. During the 2023-24 election cycle and prior to October 7, 2023, Miller had received four contributions totaling $14,200 from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) or individuals associated with AIPAC. Then, after October 7 and Israel’s genocidal response towards Palestinians, Miller made his personal support for the genocide of Palestinians crystal clear:
After receiving $14,200 from AIPAC during the first 10 months of 2023, he received about $85,800 over the next 13–an increase from about $1,400 per month to about $6,600 per month.
In addition to the $99,988 Miller received through AIPAC in 2023-2024, he received another $56,047 through the Republican Jewish Coalition, giving him a total of over $156,000 through lobbying groups that advocate the interests of Israel. To illustrate just how significant that is, Miller’s 2024 opponent raised less than $90,000 from all sources of funding, combined.
Following the money from the pro-Israel lobbying groups to Miller doesn’t tell us whether they are donating to his campaigns simply because of October 7 or because of his outright support for genocide. But it does tell us that one of the most outspoken advocates for the genocide of Palestinians is now well-funded by a lobbying group that supports the country committing genocide against Palestinians.
In addition to pro-Israel lobbying groups, other significant sources of funding for Miller in 2023-2024 include Securities and Investment, Real Estate, “Retired,” and Leadership PACs. Put plainly, his major sources of funding are pro-Israel lobbying groups, financial and real estate institutions, rich retired people, and conservative organizations.
Because Miller is just a representative he will be up for election in 2026. When the people of Ohio vote in the 2026 primaries, I hope at least some of you look at the FEC filings of candidates. You can find them here or here.
If the candidate you pick doesn’t receive at least 50% of their contributions in the form of small donations, don’t be surprised when they don’t represent you.