Democrat Brian Poindexter released a new ad Wednesday targeting his opponent, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), featuring comments from his ex-father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), in the aftermath of Miller’s domestic abuse allegations.
The spot highlights a comment Moreno made in a press gaggle at the Capitol, shortly after new domestic abuse allegations came to light in court filings from the summer. A visibly shaken Moreno said that Miller refused to give his daughter her plush bunny during a custody exchange.
“Look, I don’t care about the politics of this,” the senator said in his remarks, featured in the ad. “My granddaughter, she has a little blue bunny that she sleeps with. Max would not hand over the little blue bunny. Literally held it hostage for 48 hours. This girl is crying at night because she can’t sleep without her little blue bunny. And his answer is, ‘I’m just not going to give it to you.’ So this is the level of total and complete depravity. Truly the seventh level of hell.”
Miller has denied he kept the bunny from his daughter.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Miller’s campaign for comment.
This is the latest ad from Poindexter in which he has attempted to draw a contrast between himself and Miller over personal conduct.
Poindexter featured his three daughters in his first campaign advertisement for the general election, taking a subtle dig at Miller. The one-minute television spot includes Poindexter’s daughters praising their father for his work ethic and dedication to their family.
From there, the digs escalated.
Just last month, TV stations began rolling out an ad that featured a local sheriff claiming Miller is not the right man for the job, citing the alleged abuse.
“Max Miller’s wife has a restraining order against him. A judge signed it,” Summit County Sheriff Kandy Fatheree said in the ad. “Court documents say that Miller beat her. Held a gun to her head. Child welfare found a broken collarbone on their 2-year-old, broken under his care and with suspicious bruising.”
Miller promptly responded with a cease-and-desist letter. Miller’s lawyer Alejandro Brito maintained those statements were “false, malicious, and defamatory.” The letter urged the stations to refrain from broadcasting the ad in Ohio. Otherwise, Brito wrote, they “will be doing so with knowledge that they are false.”
Poindexter responded to the legal threat by ripping the letter in half.
Miller has continued to face intense scrutiny in a bitter and public legal battle with his ex-wife. The New York Times reported that she alleged Miller “scalded her chest and stomach by throwing hot water from a skillet at her body; held a gun to her head; pushed her against a wall and hit her head; and fractured their daughter’s collarbone and bruised her shoulder.” Miller has denied the allegations.
The Cleveland-area seat should be a relatively easy hold for Republican in the midterm elections, but Miller’s legal and personal issues have created a political headache for Republicans. President Donald Trump won the district by 11 points in 2024, but nonpartisan race raters consider it a toss-up.
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Nonetheless, Republican leadership has maintained its support of Miller.
“Divorces are ugly, and I’m glad I’m not in his shoes right now,” House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) said on Face the Nation last month. “I support anybody with an ‘R’ behind their name.”