Embattled GOP Rep. Cory Mills is running for reelection Tuesday in a Florida primary that will test voters’ tolerance of serious controversy, including claims involving sexual misconduct and domestic violence.
If Mills, 46, wins his race, Democrats believe the scandal-laden Republican’s victory could make the reliably red seat vulnerable to an upset in November.
The National Republican Congressional Committee projected confidence Monday about holding the district. “Florida’s 7th Congressional District is ruby red, and it will stay that way in November,” said NRCC spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole. Democrats, however, have identified the district as one of the key seats they are actively working to flip.
Mills faces allegations of sexual misconduct and domestic abuse, on top of campaign finance violations. He is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which said this spring it had authorized more than 20 subpoenas, collected thousands of documents and contacted dozens of witnesses to review allegations, including possible domestic violence. Mills has denied the allegations against him and has sought to portray them as politically motivated.
A spokesperson for Mills did not immediately respond to questions about whether he believes the allegations will affect his chances in the primary or Republicans’ chances of holding the seat in November.
But months of headlines and a growing list of scandals have alienated him from some Republicans in his own state. Two of Mills’s colleagues, fellow Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Haridopolos, endorsed one of his opponents, Ryan Elijah, a former news anchor.
“We need leaders in Congress who serve with integrity, energy, and an unwavering commitment to the people who sent them there,” the lawmakers wrote in a social media post backing Elijah this month.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Friday he does not support Mills. “I have not endorsed Cory Mills, and I do not support Cory Mills,” DeSantis told reporters during a visit to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, near Mills’s district.
President Donald Trump endorsed Mills in February, but has not posted about him since — even as he has praised other House Republicans on social media. On Monday night, Trump posted endorsements of each incumbent Florida House Republican running for reelection — except for Mills. The White House did not respond to a request Monday on whether the president stands behind his endorsement of Mills.
Mills’s GOP challengers have used the allegations to attack him. In addition to Elijah, Michael Johnson, a former Defense Department analyst and veteran, and Sarah Ulrich, a small business owner, are also running in the Republican primary.
Mills’s decision to press on in his race sets him apart from other colleagues who came under investigation by House Ethics Committee this year.
When Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-California) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) faced possible expulsion votes related to allegations of sexual misconduct this spring, the two men resigned. Swalwell denied an accusation of sexual assault but acknowledged some past “mistakes in judgment.” Gonzales acknowledged an affair with a former member of his staff, a violation of House rules.
Early this month, when a House Ethics Committee report detailed “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” by Rep. Chuck Edwards toward two young female staffers, the North Carolina Republican announced within days he was dropping his bid for reelection.
Edwards said that none of his conduct was intended to be a sexual or romantic advance, but that his behavior patterns “would lead a reasonable observer to interpret it as such,” the committee found.
In recent weeks, Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) has ignored calls to step aside after his ex-wife alleged in court filings that Miller threw hot water on her from a pan of eggs he had just cooked, once held a gun to her head and hurt their daughter, who suffered a fractured collarbone in February. Miller has dismissed the allegations, which are also being investigated by the House Ethics Committee. But the Ohio primary was May 5; the allegations exploded after he had secured the Republican nomination.
Mills’s own slate of controversies, however, came to light long before his primary election.
Last fall, his colleagues voted to refer a vote on censuring Mills to the Ethics Committee. The panel has since said it is investigating “serious and complex” allegations against him, including possible domestic violence and campaign finance violations, based on a report from the Office of Congressional Conduct, which found Mills’s campaign may have broken election finance law by accepting excessive contributions and that he may have profited from federal contracts for arms while in Congress.
In February 2025, D.C. police responded to a report that Mills had assaulted a woman. Body camera footage and documents obtained by The Washington Post this spring showed she changed her account after appearing to talk to the congressman. The incident is part of the Ethics Committee’s investigation. Mills denied the woman’s claim he had assaulted her. The woman declined to comment.
Last October, a Florida judge granted an order of protection against Mills in favor of an ex-girlfriend who accused him of threatening her with revenge porn. Mills has denied the charges and said they were intended to damage him politically.
He has also faced other controversies related to his military service: last May, NOTUS reportedthat five people, including two men whose lives Mills was credited with saving, did not remember Mills being present during the 2003 incidents for which he was awarded a Bronze Star. Mills has stood by his service record, and wrote Monday on X that the Army “verified my war time medals.”
The post Rep. Cory Mills’s GOP primary offers the latest test of running under an ethical cloud appeared first on Washington Post.
