Democrat Brian Poindexter said that accusations against the Ohio Republican have become “a very prominent topic” in the race.
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A new campaign ad from Rep. Max Miller’s Democratic opponent seeks to recast his race around the domestic violence allegations against the Ohio Republican.
The spot for challenger Brian Poindexter, shared with The Washington Post ahead of a six-figure television run, features a local sheriff recounting the accusations of physical abuse made by Miller’s ex-wife, which Miller has denied.
“I know what the worst of the worst looks like,” Kandy Fatheree, the Democratic sheriff for Summit County, which includes Akron and falls just outside Miller’s district, says directly to camera while standing in front of flashing police lights. “Thirty-four years in law enforcement tells me Max Miller does not belong in power.”
That line echoes what Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Miller’s former father-in-law, said last month, when he called Miller “a danger” who should not serve in Congress, igniting national interest in a race that should have been a safe hold for Republicans.
Miller is fighting back aggressively. He launched a campaign ad over the weekend highlighting Poindexter’s past arrests for drug possession and assault. On Monday, he touted an “A” grade from Moms for America, a conservative advocacy group.
“Brian Poindexter has a three decades long rap sheet,” spokesperson Abigail Angelos said in a statement that noted Miller has not been prosecuted over the domestic violence allegations. That, she said, “is probably why they couldn’t find a sheriff to speak on this in our district.”
Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, a conservative swath stretching south from the Cleveland suburbs, favored President Donald Trump by 11 percentage points in 2024. But Miller trailed him that year, and national Democrats, betting the seat will be more competitive in a favorable political environment, recently elevated Poindexter to their priority “Red to Blue” program.
Poindexter, a union ironworker and City Council member in Brook Park, Ohio, has largely steered clear of directly addressing the domestic violence accusations against Miller until now, maintaining a policy-focused campaign message. He said in a brief interview that the allegations have become “a very prominent topic when I talk to folks throughout the district.”
“They deserve the truth about who my opponent is,” Poindexter said. “People want to know what the facts are, and that’s what we aim to do.”
Miller and his ex-wife divorced last year after three years of marriage. She has since 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 claims, which are now being investigated by the House Ethics Committee, as fabrications during a messy custody battle.
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In the Poindexter ad, Fatheree specifically mentions several of those events, including that Miller allegedly held a gun to his ex-wife’s head and that their daughter’s collarbone was “broken under his care and with suspicious bruising.”
A months-long investigation by the local police department and the county child welfare agency ultimately failed to identify who caused that injury.
“Max Miller’s wife has a restraining order against him,” Fatheree says. “A judge signed it.”
It’s unclear how much elevating the scandal will move conservative-leaning voters away from Miller, who retains support from Trump and other national Republicans.
The Post interviewed dozens of voters in the district last month and found that it was barely registering at the time. Many were unfamiliar with the domestic violence accusations against Miller, and those Republicans who had heard about them 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.
Poindexter has campaigned on affordability, health care and labor rights, seeking to win back the working-class voters who have drifted away from Democrats in recent decades and fueled Trump’s rise. He credits his union job with his own political evolution from a Republican-leaning voter in his youth.
Unlike similar blue-collar candidates in some other conservative districts across the country, Poindexter has not sought to distance himself from the Democratic Party. He even appeared at a rally with leftist populist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) this year.
Poindexter’s run-ins with the law include a 1998 arrest as a teenager for allegedly trying to swallow a rock of suspected crack cocaine at a traffic stop and another in 2013 for allegedly slapping a man at a baseball game. Poindexter was not charged for either incident and he has denied ever using hard drugs.
He told The Post that he is not worried about his past becoming fodder for Miller in turn.
“I can’t predict what my opponent is going to do. He’s erratic at best,” Poindexter said. “He’s been in Congress for four years and that’s what all he has, is attacks and lies.”
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