GOP senator calls Max Miller allegations ‘deeply troubling’

Jim Banks didn't hide behind the usual dodge here, and that's worth noting before we get into anything else. A sitting senator from a different state could easily have said "not my race, not my business" and moved on. Instead he called the allegations against Max Miller "deeply troubling" and said flatly that Miller should resign if they're true. That's the correct answer, and it shouldn't be remarkable that a Republican gave it. But given how often these situations turn into weeks of mealy-mouthed non-statements from party leadership, it is.

The instinct to protect a seat, especially a competitive one in Ohio, is real and understandable. Nobody wants to hand Democrats a talking point or a pickup opportunity. But that instinct is exactly how parties end up defending people they shouldn't, for months, until the story metastasizes into something bigger than the original allegation. Banks put a condition on it, "if true," which is fair and necessary. Nobody's convicting a man on cable news chyrons. But he didn't pretend the allegations don't exist either, and he didn't run from the word "resign."

This is a low bar, honestly. Say the allegations are serious, say what should happen if they check out, and let the process play out. It shouldn't take courage to do that. But we've watched enough of these episodes on both sides to know it often does. If Miller is innocent, he deserves the chance to say so and be heard. If he's not, Ohio Republicans need someone who can actually win that seat next year, not someone spending it defending himself in a scandal. Banks understood which of those outcomes matters more than incumbency.