Max Miller

WASHINGTON - As U.S. Rep. Max Miller’s insists on seeking reelection despite domestic abuse allegations, boosting Democrats’ odds of capturing his seat, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Tuesday put his opponent in its “Red to Blue” program.

Following Miller’s refusal to drop out by Ohio’s deadline, the campaign organization behind Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives announced it added Brook Park council member Brian Poindexter to the program.

The organization said Red to Blue gives top-tier Democratic candidates organizational and fundraising support, along with strategic guidance, staff resources and candidate training.

“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,” DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene said. “Brian is the fighter OH-07 needs to lower costs, stand up for workers, and deliver real results.”

She also blasted Miller - who loaned his first congressional campaign $1 million and has pledged to make another $1 million loan - for buying “his way into power” - and said the domestic abuse allegations against him “cannot be ignored.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which boosts GOP U.S. House of Representatives candidates, dismissed the move. Spokesman Zach Bannon claimed Poindexter backs “radical far-left” policies that are out of touch with his district.

“While Poindexter may have won the support of D.C. Democrats, he will be rejected by Ohioans this fall.”

Cleveland.com has reached out to Miller’s campaign for comment.

A campaign statement from Poindexter said the DCCC designation is proof of his campaign’s success.

“I’m ready to bring that same fight to Congress for the families of OH-07, who are getting squeezed while Max Miller spends his time in Washington working for everyone but them,” Poindexter’s statement said.

A survey of 615 likely general election voters conducted Aug. 5-6 by the Republican-leaning polling firm co/efficient found Poindexter leading Miller 47% to 33%. That’s up from a five-point lead in the firm’s July 30 survey. The poll found Miller’s unfavorable rating had climbed 16 points to 57% over the same week, with awareness of his ex-wife’s domestic violence allegation rising from 53% to 86% among those surveyed. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.94 percentage points.

Miller’s failure to drop his re-election bid also prompted independent race raters including the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball to declare the race a toss-up.

Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, has accused him of physical abuse throughout their marriage, including scalding her with hot water. Miller has denied every allegation and has not been criminally charged.

Multiple Republicans, including both of Ohio’s GOP U.S. senators — Bernie Moreno, his ex-wife’s father, and Jon Husted — have urged Miller to drop out. President Donald Trump has questioned his electoral viability, though he has stopped short of calling for Miller to withdraw.

Miller has said he’s staying in the race to clear his name, and has pointed to the House Ethics Committee investigation he requested himself as evidence he has nothing to hide. He has cited Trump’s resilience through 2016 campaign setbacks as inspiration for his own resolve.“In 2016, when President Donald J. Trump faced the most extreme allegations in the world that hit him day after day after day, and people in the media, very much like yourself and others, said that he would have no shot at winning, that he should not be the president of the United States, but guess what? He stayed in and he was resilient,” Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Aug. 5.

He also has said he didn’t want to be seen as a quitter.

“My daughter is going to grow up one day, and she’s going to see all of this,” Miller told Tapper. “And she’s not going to see that her father caved to political and social media pressures for something that he never did.”