Ohio voters weigh how men candidates treat the women in their lives
WOOSTER, OHIO — Gaile Noble, a 76-year-old retired social worker and Democrat, has lived in a deep-red part of Ohio her entire life and has been represented by a Republican in Congress for almost all of it.
But she’s optimistic that will change in November — and has her hopes set on Democrat Brian Poindexter to defeat her current member of Congress, Rep. Max Miller.
President Donald Trump carried Ohio’s 7th District, which stretches from parts of the Cleveland suburbs down to more rural counties, by 11 points in 2024. But Miller, seeking a third term, now faces a toss-up race because of his acrimonious, widely publicized divorce and custody battle with his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Ohio’s senior senator, Bernie Moreno.
The court filings and records in the case surfaced allegations of domestic violence. Miller has denied the allegations and has not been charged with a crime. But after Miller defied calls from other Republicans, including his ex-father-in-law, to drop out, the turmoil in his personal life has become a central issue in the race and the subject of Democratic attack ads.
“I hope my neighbors will not vote for an individual with those kinds of accusations,” Noble said of Miller.
“It kind of breaks my heart,” she added. “It’s going to be hard to live here if he’s reelected.”
In an election cycle dominated by Trump’s poor approval ratings and voter concerns about prices and affordability, the tenor of the race has become intensely personal, all amid the backdrop of the Trump administration’s cuts to federal programs focused on intimate partner violence. And in a year where several men in Congress have resigned, lost primaries and passed on reelection due to allegations of misconduct against women, the race will also test how much domestic violence allegations sway voters in a GOP stronghold.
The race has big implications for control of Congress. But the months of news coverage about the allegations against Miller also puts a spotlight on a painful issue for survivors of gender-based violence, one that domestic violence advocates say could echo throughout the region. Ohio’s domestic violence services helped nearly 3,000 people on a single day in 2025, according to The National Network to End Domestic Violence.
How men treat women has become a core question of the race here. Sen. Moreno said he holds his breath when Miller has custody of his granddaughter.
Miller released an ad where he talks about the “painful reality” of divorce and notes that he and Emily Moreno now share equal custody of their young daughter.
And Poindexter, a union ironworker and local city council member, has featured his three daughters in a campaign ad and calls them the “stars of the show.” At a Poindexter event at the Democratic Party headquarters in Wayne County on Saturday, Noble told him it was “refreshing to see a positive ad” amid all the negative ones. His campaign literature features a photo of him and his daughters with the caption: “Brian Poindexter: Ironworker, Girl Dad.”
“They’re my entire inspiration,” Poindexter said in an interview. “They’re my girls. You know, it’s my whole world, and when the days get long and times get tough, they keep giving me energy.”
Miller, 37, comes from an affluent, politically connected Cleveland-area family and worked as a White House staffer during Trump’s first term before Trump endorsed him to run for Congress.
In ads, Poindexter and Democrats have highlighted allegations against Miller from Moreno; his ex-girlfriend, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham; and a high school classmate who told Politico in 2021 that he pushed her down the stairs. Miller and his lawyers have also denied those allegations.
“His life experiences have led him to believe that he can buy his way out of all of his troubles,” Poindexter told The 19th. “Unfortunately for him, he has a record now. He has something that people can look to.”
“In four years, all he has is attacks and smears on me because he hasn’t done anything to help anybody in this district but himself and people like him,” he added.
Miller and Republicans have also aired ads attacking Poindexter’s past run-ins with the law, including a 1998 arrest on suspicion of drug use and an arrest in 2013 after getting into a fight with another man at a baseball game (He wasn’t charged in connection with either incident and says he’s never used hard drugs). Poindexter, 47, points to his family and daughters as proof people can change — but he said Miller hasn’t.
“In my 20s, I got into a scrap with a Steelers fan. I mostly regret that one. I was young and dumb. But I’ve turned my life around. That was 25 years ago,” he says in one ad.
In another, Poindexter says: “The people who know me the best know Max Miller’s ads are lies. The people who know Max Miller best hold their breath when he has custody of his daughter.”
Miller’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
A lot is at stake in Ohio this year. Though Trump has carried the state in each of his presidential runs, polls show Democrats have a shot at flipping key statewide offices: Democrat Amy Acton is running against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for governor, and former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is running to unseat Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed to replace Vice President JD Vance. The governor’s race has also turned nasty and personal. Ramaswamy’s campaign is airing a television ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, who lost custody of Acton and her brother in 1978 after her second husband was charged with raping then-12-year-old Acton.
(Brian Poindexter Campaign)
Poindexter and groups helping Democrats retake the House have seized on the allegations against Miller and poured millions into the race to air them. According to AdImpact, which tracks ad spending, Democrats had spent $9.2 million in ads in the race, compared with $4.1 million by Republicans as of October 10.
One of the most striking ads of the cycle released earlier this month features a recording of Sen. Moreno accusing Miller of withholding his granddaughter’s blue bunny set over images of young children playing with stuffed animals.
The allegations, which Moreno aired in an August interview and which Miller has denied, struck a chord with parents across social media and in Miller’s district. Cindy Demsey, the chair of the Cuyahoga Democratic Women’s Caucus, said the allegations “smack of cruelty,” and, taken with Moreno’s influence in the state, may sway Republican voters. When Miller officially became the Republican nominee in August, Dempsey helped organize a roadside rally featuring stuffed blue bunnies.
Last month, Poindexter aired an ad featuring Summit County Sheriff Kandy Fatheree talking about some of the allegations and noting the restraining order against Miller granted to his ex-wife. “I know what the worst of the worst looks like,” she says in the ad. “Thirty years in law enforcement tells me Max Miller does not belong in power.”
Earlier in the cycle, labor-backed Battleground Alliance PAC targeted 100,000 households in Miller’s district with robocalls airing physical abuse allegations against Miller by his ex-wife, as well as by Grisham.
“People are fed up,” Poindexter said. “People were promised a manufacturing boom. People were promised lower prices, lower gas, no new wars,” he said. “There were a lot of promises made, and not a lot of promises kept.”
Brittany Figlar is a survivor of human trafficking who works to end the practice from her home in Parma, Ohio, in Miller’s district.
One of Figlar’s clients is now scared of fighting her abusive ex in court because she sees how few consequences powerful men have experienced.
“When a case like the one that’s come forth against Miller happens, it intimidates a victim of the same kind of violence that much more,” Figlar said. She said other advocates she’s spoken to are seeing the same impacts on their clients.
Figlar said she hasn’t seen many organizations publicly address Miller’s case. When the powerful are able to dodge accountability, she says that’s evidence of a systemic problem in how society treats violence.
Kellie Copeland, a longtime Ohio abortion rights advocate and executive director of Abortion Forward, said the allegations against Miller combined with revelations from the release of files connected to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and more recent news stories about sexual assault on college campuses likely hit home for many survivors.
“They’re all connected to this desire to wrestle back bodily autonomy from women, to wrestle back control over their lives,” she said. “I think it’s deeply disturbing, and I think it’s very difficult if you’re someone who’s been impacted by that, to constantly see this in the news and not see any accountability.”
Wayne County has voted for Republicans for president since 1968 and backed Trump by nearly 40 points in 2024. Shadowing a canvasser knocking on doors for Poindexter in Wooster, The 19th saw dozens of yard signs for Poindexter and other Democratic candidates and only a few for Republicans.
At an anti-Trump No Kings protest earlier Saturday in downtown Wooster, Democrats expressed their distaste for Miller and their frustration with years of Republican governance.
“We’ve gone from a really top-notch state to shit level,” said Pat Cornelius, a 75-year-old retiree who says she’s opposed Miller from “day one” due to his stance on gun safety.
“I hate Max Miller, he’s a horrible person,” said David Paul, a 63-year-old retiree.
Miller still has supporters in the district, like Bob Meale, a 78-year-old retired teacher and self-described political junkie who attended a classic car show in downtown Medina, where he stamped his car with a “MAGA edition” decal and handed out free American flags “for patriots.”
“I wouldn’t elect him to be my preacher,” he said of Miller. But in Congress, “I need someone in line with my principles and priorities.”
Meale hasn’t been swayed by advertising about Miller’s personal controversies. He said he’s heard Miller address the domestic violence allegations on a conservative talk radio show he listens to and was convinced by his explanation.
“His side is very believable,” he said.
But there were signs of trouble for Miller with voters who should otherwise be in his camp, like Jay and Rick, two retired police officers selling handguns, ammunition and copies of books by conservative personalities like Bill O’Reilly and Jesse Watters at a gun show held at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds on Sunday afternoon. Both declined to provide their last names.
Jay, who was wearing a Ramaswamy campaign hat, said he might leave the House race blank because of the family drama between Miller and the Morenos.
“He doesn’t do anything for me,” he said of Miller.
Rick is leaving both the Senate and the House races blank on his ballot. He thinks Husted is “a weak candidate” who can’t beat Brown and dislikes Gov. Mike DeWine, who appointed him to the Senate.
And in the race between Miller and Poindexter, “I don’t like either of those candidates,” he said.
Carla Wallace, a 65-year-old voter whom the Poindexter campaign canvassed at her home in Wooster, said she was voting for him because of the Miller campaign’s tactics and what she sees as the broader rollback of women’s rights. She said the onslaught of negative, personal ads in the race has been “hard to absorb.”
“Things don’t need to be as messy,” she added.
Mel Leonor Barclay contributed reporting.
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