WASHINGTON — They can’t all be winners.
On Election Day, millions of voters across the country will be forced to decide whether to elect ethically or criminally challenged candidates as they juggle their political and moral priorities.
From allegations of adultery and abuse to criminal indictments, a number of midterm candidates on both sides of the aisle managed to survive their primaries or had scandals emerge after securing their party’s nomination, creating a dilemma for voters.
Here are some of the most scandalous pols on the ballot Nov. 3:
Max Miller
Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) is facing accusations that he abused his ex-wife, Emily Moreno — the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) — including that he shoved her during a Feb. 1 custody exchange this year, and deliberately dumped hot water on her in 2024.
The Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services also launched an investigation earlier this year after the couple’s 2-year-old daughter suffered a broken collarbone, but opted not to bring charges.
Miller has vehemently denied the allegations, which came to light during his nasty custody fight with Emily, and declined to drop out of the race ahead of an August deadline — despite his own former father-in-law calling on him to resign and seek psychological help.
Miller previously faced abuse accusations from another ex-girlfriend, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who he sued for defamation. The case was eventually settled before trial.
The congressman’s northeast Ohio district, which voted for President Trump by 11 points in 2024, is now seen as a toss-up.
Ken Paxton
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been haunted by a string of scandals, including cheating on his state senator wife, a securities fraud indictment in 2015, accusations of giving preferential treatment to a donor, and allegations of misappropriating public resources.
Paxton was impeached by the GOP-led Texas state House in 2023 and narrowly escaped conviction by the state Senate.
Now he faces a shockingly competitive Senate race against state Rep. James Talarico, who is trying to be the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Texas since 1988.
Ilhan Omar
“Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) had her DC home raided by the feds on Columbus Day and is believed to be facing a federal probe into whether or not she engaged in a conspiracy to commit immigration fraud alongside other members of her family.
Ilhan Omar’s relative timeline
Significant dates into Rep. Ilhan Omar’s past relationships, which point to a potential sham marriage with her brother.
- 1981 or 1982 — Ilhan Omar is born in Mogadishu, Somalia. Her birth year is in dispute — there are allegations she made herself a year younger to later qualify for citizenship as a minor.
- 1995 — After four years in a refugee camp in Kenya because of the Somalian civil war, Omar and her family emigrate to the US.
- 2002 — Omar marries Ahmed Hirsi (right) in an Islamic ceremony. They applied for a marriage license, but, she said, “we never finalized the application and thus were never legally married.” They have two children.
- 2009 — Omar marries Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. Evidence points to Elmi being her brother, and that she married him so he could legally live in the US after the family wanted him out of the UK.
- 2012 — Omar still lived with Hirsi during this time, witnesses told the Post, and they had a third child this year. Elmi also reportedly leaves Minnesota this year.
- 2016 — The FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigate claims Omar married her brother, as she runs for Minnesota’s legislature.
- 2017 — Omar’s divorce from Elmi is finalized.
- 2018 — Omar officially marries Hirsi. She runs for Congress for the first time and wins.
- 2019 — Omar leaves Hirsi for Tim Mynett (left), a political consultant who is paid by her campaign. They marry the next year.
- 2021 — A Biden-appointed US Attorney in Minnesota officially shuts down the investigation into Omar’s alleged immigration fraud.
In 2000, her father obtained his citizenship, a privilege that was extended to Omar, who was believed to be 17 at the time. Federal law enforcement officials are apparently investigating whether she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and thus ineligible for the minor benefit.
As part of the alleged conspiracy, the feds are also looking into whether Omar married her brother to help him secure a green card. Omar has denied both accusations and claimed that she is the victim of government weaponization due to her criticism of the Trump administration.
LaMonica McIver
Last year, Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was charged with trying to block authorities from arresting Newark Mayor Ras Baraka during an oversight trip to the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in that city.
She was charged with assaulting, impeding, and interfering with law enforcement. McIver claimed to have turned down a plea deal with the feds and has since pleaded not guilty.
Her attempts to dismiss the case were rejected, including by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Similar to Omar, McIver has contended that she is the victim of government weaponization.
Henry Cuellar
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who represents a competitive district on the outskirts of San Antonio, was indicted in May 2024 on charges of bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy after allegedly taking $600,000 from the Azerbaijani government and a Mexican bank.
Prosecutors alleged the money was funneled to Cuellar through a complex network of shell companies in exchange for him promising to influence US foreign policy in Azerbaijan’s favor while sitting on a key House Appropriations subcommittee.
In a stunning move, Trump pardoned Cuellar in December of last year, though the president later expressed regret that the congressman didn’t change parties in return.
Cuellar has denied wrongdoing.
Bobby Pulido
Latin Grammy winner Bobby Pulido has been haunted by revelations of his raunchy social media history in which he has made sexually suggestive posts about women, as well as anti-gay comments.
“I want a photo of your tit signed by @grupo_pesado,” Pulido wrote in Spanish in one ribald 2014 X post.
In 2017, the singer expressed his thoughts on homosexuals by telling a male admirer: “1. I don’t like those guys. 2. You can’t have children. 3. Stop being a jerk already.”
Pulido has defended the many past sordid posts as jokes that didn’t survive Google Translate.
He also faced controversy over his ties to his longtime former bandmate Frankie Caballero, who was convicted of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl in 2014.
Jimmy Gomez
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) is facing a House Ethics Committee probe into “inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer.”
The Post previously reported on the married dad kissing a much younger congressional aide during a party to mark the start of the August recess in 2023.
House rules restrict lawmakers from making “unwelcome sexual advances or conduct” toward employees.
Mike Collins
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) has faced controversy over accusations of improperly paying a former intern, who had a romantic relationship with the congressman’s then-chief of staff, $10,000 to work a no-show job between 2023 and 2024.
That matter is being probed by the House Ethics Committee.
Collins, who is vying for Georgia’s Senate seat, also took heat over his son-in-law’s posting of Nazi imagery on social media, his former digital director William Paul’s drunken antisemitic tirade toward Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), and two campaign staffers having links to an ex-Ku Klux Klan leader.
The Peach State Republican insists he doesn’t harbor racist views.
Mary Peltola
Former Rep. Mary Peltola was hit with a late-breaking scandal this week after a bombshell New York Times report revealed links between her team and an effort to recruit a man named Dan J. Sullivan, also known as “Decoy Dan,” into her Senate race.
Here’s the latest on the ‘Decoy Dan’ scandal in the ongoing Alaska Senate race:
For months, Republicans had been deeply suspicious about the presence of “Decoy Dan” in the race, given that his name is nearly identical to incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan (R-Alaska). But until the Times report emerged Wednesday, they lacked solid proof that Democrats recruited him.
Now the Justice Department is intensifying its investigation over the alleged efforts to recruit the second Dan Sullivan to confuse Alaskan voters in the highly competitive Senate race. Alaska’s Republican governor has annouced a state investigation into whether Democrats should face criminal charges.
Peltola’s campaign issued a very carefully worded statement in response to the report, claiming “the Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.”
LaKesha Womack
Democratic North Carolina congressional hopeful LaKesha Womack was served with a felony summons at a campaign event earlier this month over failure to return a rental car in 2019.
Womack is challenging Rep. Tim Moore (R-NC), who is favored to win re-election.
Congressional clean-up
Ironically, 2026 saw multiple incumbent lawmakers go down due to various scandals.
In April, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) resigned amid rape and sexual assault accusations, while Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) stepped down amid revelations of sexual relations with staffers, one of whom lit herself on fire and died.
Swalwell, who is currently under federal investigation, has denied the rape accusations.
That same month, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) resigned amid accusations she swindled $5 million in COVID-19 relief and used it for her campaign. She pleaded not guilty to federal charges and ran for another term in Congress anyway but crashed and burned in a primary.
Outgoing Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) was also bested in a primary this year after the Army veteran faced allegations of stolen valor, financial misconduct, and domestic abuse. He has denied all those claims.
Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) dropped out of his re-election race and was censured by his House colleagues over inappropriate conduct with much younger female staffers.
And perhaps most famously, Maine Democrat Graham Platner dropped his Senate bid after being accused of rape by one ex-girlfriend and physical abuse by another former flame, claims he has vehemently denied.
