The Democrats’ congressional campaign arm has added Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker running for Congress in Ohio, to a list of candidates who party leaders believe can flip their districts. It is the latest sign of political fallout from the abuse allegations against his Republican opponent, Representative Max Miller.
Mr. Poindexter’s addition to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s highly competitive “Red to Blue” program is likely to attract a significant influx of campaign cash from donors. He is running for Ohio’s Seventh Congressional District, which was considered solidly Republican until Mr. Miller was accused of physically abusing family members, including holding a gun to his ex-wife’s head and fracturing his young daughter’s collarbone.
On Monday, as the deadline for Mr. Miller to withdraw passed, the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan group that analyzes elections, moved the race from “Likely Republican” to “Tossup.”
“Brian Poindexter is exactly the kind of leader Ohio families deserve in Congress — a union ironworker who has spent his life working alongside the people he’s running to represent,” Representative Suzan DelBene, a Democrat of Washington and chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “Max Miller has never lived that reality.”
Mr. Miller, a scion of one of Ohio’s wealthiest families. defiantly stayed in the race despite pressure from within his own party to step aside. Republican officials from Washington to Ohio have warned that the scandal could cost them a seat as the party tries to keep control of the House. Mr. Miller has forcefully denied the allegations against him and accused his ex-wife, who is the daughter of Senator Bernie Moreno, another Republican of Ohio, of fabricating stories to sabotage his political career.
Some Republicans have stood by Mr. Miller and dismissed the allegations as a nasty custody dispute.
Mr. Poindexter has spent the last eight months campaigning without support from Democratic Party leadership, who had viewed the race as a long shot. Until last week, his campaign had not been able to raise enough money to air ads on television this fall. A longtime friend of Mr. Poindexter’s from his time on the local City Council serves as his campaign manager, communications director and head of finance all in one.
Mr. Miller has said he will lend $1 million of his own funds to his campaign. He plans to spend more than $760,000 on ads starting in September, according to AdImpact.
The Democrats have elevated 32 candidates to their “Red to Blue” program. On Tuesday, the campaign committee also added Christina Hines in Michigan’s 10th Congressional District to the list.
Candidates in the “Red to Blue” program receive strategic guidance, training and staff support, depending on timing and what each campaign needs. In this year’s primary cycle, the committee’s picks have produced mixed results, as the party base has repeatedly rejected the establishment in favor of candidates who are running as political outsiders.
The November elections will further test the program’s savvy at picking winners in key races.
Mr. Poindexter, a self-described “regular guy” running a campaign aimed at speaking to the working class, is the type of candidate Democrats believe can win over voters who have flocked to President Trump in recent years.
“This campaign started in my campaign manager’s garage last January, when we built the wooden lectern for our launch with our own hands,” Mr. Poindexter said in a statement. “This Red to Blue designation is proof of what we can build together.”
The Democrat is hoping to represent a Cleveland-area district that, with slightly different boundaries, went for Mr. Trump by double digits last year. But a version of the district also opted for Sherrod Brown when he ran for Senate in 2018, giving Democrats hope of a comeback in November.
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