Senate Republican: Max Miller 'shouldn't be in office'

Rick Scott didn't hedge, and good for him. When a sitting senator tells a reporter flatly that a House member "shouldn't be in office" over domestic abuse allegations, that's not a talking point, that's a gut check. Too often this stuff gets buried in statements from spokespeople about "taking allegations seriously" while everyone waits for the news cycle to move on. Scott just said the thing.

That matters because the instinct in both parties is to circle the wagons until the political cost of doing so exceeds the cost of cutting someone loose. Max Miller isn't some anonymous backbencher nobody would notice leaving. He's a member of the conference, and the allegations from his ex-wife are serious enough that pretending this is a private matter between two people insults everyone who's ever had to make that same case to a boss, a court, or a family member.

We don't do gender politics as a party, and we shouldn't start now by treating abuse allegations as a partisan football either. If the accusations hold up, Miller should be gone, full stop, regardless of what letter is next to his name. Republicans built a brand on being the party that doesn't flinch from personal responsibility. Scott just applied that standard to one of his own, which is exactly the kind of consistency voters say they want and rarely get.

The test now is whether House leadership follows Scott's lead or lets this quietly fade into another unresolved ethics referral nobody remembers by spring.