A newly elected Ohio Democrat who flipped a Republican seat on Election Day is now the subject of an investigation his own party's campaign arm has been forced to confirm.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said Friday it had hired an outside firm to investigate a sexual harassment allegation against Rep.-elect Brian Poindexter (D-OH). The allegation was made by a woman who worked on his 2026 campaign, according to Breitbart.
The review remains open, Punchbowl News reported. Poindexter, a union ironworker, captured the Republican-held district on Nov. 3.
DCCC Executive Director Julie Merz set out the committee's response in a written statement. It offered assurances of seriousness but few details about what the allegation involves.
"The DCCC has been made aware of the allegations and takes them seriously we have hired an independent, third-party firm to investigate any instance of inappropriate behavior, conduct interviews and gather the facts. Upon completion of that investigation, which we have asked to be swift, thorough, and transparent, the DCCC will have further comment."
Poindexter's campaign has tried to cast the episode as a misunderstanding. A spokesperson said the campaign has also retained an outside human resources firm and insisted the congressman-elect meant no offense.
"Brian gave what he thought was an innocuous compliment to a volunteer. He heard later that it made her feel uncomfortable and he felt awful," the spokesperson said. "As a lifelong ironworker, Brian always went out of his way to make everyone feel comfortable on any job site. He knows these are different worlds, but he will do the same in Congress."
The more troubling question is timing. Two Democratic-aligned groups quietly dropped Poindexter before voters went to the polls.
Blue Dog PAC and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC both removed him from their endorsement lists around Election Day. Blue Dog PAC dropped him as of Oct. 28, and the progressive group followed on Nov. 1, according to archived webpages cited by Politico.
The two groups said they learned of the report in the final days of the campaign and alerted the DCCC. They did not, however, call on Poindexter to step aside.
"We respected her desires, and also felt we needed to immediately pull our endorsements pending the investigation being completed," the groups said. Voters in the district, meanwhile, were left unaware of the allegation when they cast their ballots.
Republicans are demanding to know who in the Democratic Party knew what, and when. "The DCCC owes Ohioans and the American public full transparency as it investigates this serious allegation, including what Democrats knew and when they knew it," RNC National Press Secretary Natalie Baldassarre said in a statement.
"If there's any evidence of a coordinated coverup to protect Brian Poindexter prior to the election, officials must be held accountable," Baldassarre added. Her challenge goes to the heart of whether party officials put winning a seat ahead of informing the public.
Poindexter himself had not addressed the allegation at the time of publication. He is set to take the seat held by Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), whom Democrats targeted relentlessly over separate allegations.
Miller, whose ex-wife is the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), denied domestic abuse allegations she made against him. He drew a House Ethics Committee investigation in August.
That same month, the DCCC demanded that Miller quit the race. "The horrific allegations levied against Max Miller, who has a lengthy record of alleged domestic violence, are credible and cannot be ignored," DCCC spokesperson Riya Vashi said at the time.
Democrats were quick to judge Miller in public, yet the committee was alerted to the claim against its own candidate before Election Day and confirmed its investigation only afterward. Until the outside investigation is complete and the DCCC explains what it knew before Nov. 3, the questions surrounding Poindexter's victory are unlikely to go away.
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