WASHINGTON — The House Majority PAC announced Friday it is adding $6 million in advertising reservations in Cleveland, pushing its total spending in Ohio's 7th Congressional District above $7 million. The investment targets Republican Rep. Max Miller, who faces allegations of physically abusing his ex-wife and their 2-year-old daughter and of illegal drug use—charges he has denied and called politically motivated.
Miller's ex-wife, Emily Moreno, is the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), who has publicly called for Miller to exit the race and give up his House seat. Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) has joined that call, telling Miller to resign and end his reelection campaign. Despite pressure from members of his own party and an active House Ethics Committee investigation, Miller has said he will remain in the race.
"Max Miller is an embarrassment to OH-07, and Republicans continue to stand by him as the allegations of abuse continue to pile up," House Majority PAC President Mike Smith said in a statement. "HMP is all-in on ensuring Max Miller loses this November and looks forward to Democrats taking back the House and electing Hakeem Jeffries as the next Speaker."
The Cleveland market borders Miller's district, making it the natural advertising target for a race whose dynamics have shifted sharply in recent weeks. Since the allegations against Miller drew national attention, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Ohio's 7th to its list of priority races—a designation that signals both funding and organizational resources from the party's campaign arm.
The Cook Political Report moved its rating for the district from "leans Republican" to a toss-up, reflecting the altered political math on the ground. A co/efficient poll conducted Aug. 6 put Democratic challenger Brian Poindexter ahead of Miller by 14 points, up from a five-point Poindexter lead the week before.
Poindexter is the Democrat the party has lined up to take the seat. His lead widening by nine points in a single week tracks directly with escalating media coverage of the allegations against Miller and intensifying calls from Republican officials for the congressman to step aside.
Miller, a second-term congressman, has said he is unable to attend certain court hearings because of demands placed on the House by its slim Republican majority—a majority that gives each individual member unusual leverage and, in Miller's framing, an obligation to remain in office. That argument has not satisfied either Republican senator from Ohio.
The House Ethics Committee investigation adds institutional pressure on Miller beyond the political. Ethics probes are conducted by a bipartisan panel and operate independently of party leadership; their findings, when they come, carry formal weight that floor speeches and press releases do not.
For House Democrats, the arithmetic is straightforward. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority, and flipping a seat like Ohio's 7th—historically a safe Republican district—without a candidate controversy of this scale would be unlikely. The PAC's $7 million-plus commitment reflects a calculation that Miller's refusal to step down has made a formerly long-odds target genuinely competitive.
Smith's statement named Hakeem Jeffries as the intended next Speaker, making explicit that the Ohio spending is part of a larger House majority strategy rather than a standalone investment in a single district. Democrats need a net gain of seats in November to reclaim the chamber.
