Democrats are betting that domestic abuse allegations against Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) will turn his conservative House district competitive this fall.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the political arm for House Democrats, announced Tuesday that it is adding Miller’s challenger, Brian Poindexter, to its priority “Red to Blue” program.
The designation, which has been given to 30 other candidates seeking to flip GOP-held districts in November, opens up additional party resources, strategic guidance and fundraising support for Poindexter, a union ironworker and city council member in a Cleveland suburb.
“Brian Poindexter is exactly the kind of leader Ohio families deserve in Congress,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (Washington), who chairs the committee, said in a statement that referenced “credible allegations of domestic violence that cannot be ignored.”
Miller denies any wrongdoing and has dismissed the claims, which are now being investigated by the House Ethics Committee, as fabrications during a messy custody battle. He has suggested his ex-wife is mentally unbalanced, which she denies.
Following their divorce last year, Miller’s ex-wife accused him in court filings of throwing hot water on her from a pan of eggs he had just cooked, holding a gun to her head and hurting their 2-year-old daughter, who suffered a fractured collarbone in February.
Poindexter’s promotion to “Red to Blue” status comes a day after the window closed for Republicans to replace Miller on the ballot as their nominee in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, which stretches south from the Cleveland suburbs.
Some Republicans, including Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Miller’s former father-in-law, had sought to pressure Miller to step aside and allow local party officials to choose a new candidate.
But Miller vowed to carry on in the race because he said he did not want his daughter to see him as “a quitter.” Prominent GOP leaders stood by him, including President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).
With Trump’s popularity fading across the country, Democrats are optimistic about expanding their map this fall into districts that would typically be off the table.
Republican campaign officials have privately expressed little concern about Miller’s race, however, because of the conservative leaning of the seat. Trump won it by 11 percentage points in 2024 — though Miller trailed, winning 51 percent of the vote against a Democrat and a populist independent.
The Washington Post interviewed dozens of voters in the district last week and found that the scandal was barely registering.
Many were unfamiliar with the abuse accusations against Miller, and even those Republicans who had heard were largely wary of wading into what they considered a family matter and reluctant to abandon the congressman. Only a handful of conservative voters told The Post that they were even open to considering his Democratic opponent.
Dan Merica contributed to this report.
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