David Hoecke paused under a canopy of trees on a steamy August Saturday in front of Medina’s gazebo.
The 88-year-old Republican and his wife live in Berea but hand out the Gideon New Testament Bibles at the Medina Square Farmers Market every week because the crowd, usually about 3,000 people, is receptive to their Christian outreach, he said.
Hoecke usually doesn’t talk politics during this spiritual work.
But when a reporter asked what he thought about the ongoing scandal threatening to flip U.S. Rep. Max Miller’s comfortable Northeast Ohio red district to blue, Hoecke didn’t hesitate.
“My concern is anyone who is in a position of authority and abuses that,” Hoecke said. “Unfortunately, that’s a widespread issue today. It makes me sad.”
Three women say the Ohio congressman shoved, hit or otherwise hurt them during different times of his life that have stretched through his teens, 20s and 30s. Miller, 37, has denied the allegations.
A former classmate recently told a reporter for “Mother Jones” that Miller threw her out of his room and down a flight of stairs when she refused his sexual advances in high school.
His former girlfriend Stephanie Grisham said Miller pushed her against a wall and slapped her in the face when she confronted him about infidelity when they both worked in the first Trump administration.
Miller’s ex-wife Emily Moreno, a GOP operative and daughter of Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has said in court records that Miller also shoved her into a wall, doused her with hot water and once pointed a gun at her while she was changing their daughter’s diaper.
But many voters in Ohio’s 7th District, which stretches from the middle-class suburbs of southern Cuyahoga County, through the exurbs in Medina County and into rural Wayne and Ashland counties – aren’t convinced.
Over the past two weeks, four Akron Beacon Journal reporters fanned out across the district to find out what voters were thinking about their congressman amid the scandal.
Reporters talked to more than 60 people in Solon, Strongsville, Medina and Wooster and discovered many were angry and frustrated that Miller remains on the November ballot.
Others who intended to vote for Miller voiced skepticism of the allegations or said they believed having a conservative in Ohio 7th district outweighed the claims of domestic violence. Very few of these supporters, though, wanted their names publicly attached to those sentiments during this time of deep political division.
Here’s a glimpse into what voters in Ohio’s 7th are saying about Miller, politics and Nov. 3, when voters will choose between Miller and his Democratic challenger Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker and Brook Park city councilman.
‘I can’t stand a “yes man”‘
Adela Schroth lifted her arm, balled her fist and pointed her thumb down toward the ground when she heard Max Miller’s name outside SouthPark Mall in Strongsville.
Her husband, Ronald Schroth, explained the couple’s view: “He’s a ‘Trumpster’ and I can’t stand a ‘yes man’.”
The Strongsville couple, in their mid-60s, didn’t detail why they believed Miller is a “yes man,” but Miller is considered especially loyal to President Donald Trump.
Before he was elected, Miller worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and later became an aide who also served as Trump’s personal DJ.
Trump nicknamed Miller “the Music Man” because he managed a playlist of showtunes and other music that would lift Trump out of a bad mood.
Later, after he was elected, Miller remained loyal to Trump. He and Moreno were married at Trump’s New Jersey golf club where the president attended the reception. Most recently, Miller co-sponsored the SAVE America Act, which critics, including the nonpartisan Voter Participation Center, said could make voting more difficult for millions of Americans, including an estimated 69 million married women who adopted their husband’s surnames.
The legislation ultimately stalled in the U.S. Senate despite Trump’s repeated demands that lawmakers pass it.
Ronald Schroth said he finds the allegations against Miller disturbing, particularly after Sen. Bernie Moreno recently said his former son-in-law is unfit to serve in Congress.
Adela Schroth said she’s voting for Poindexter who “actually worked for a living.”
The candidates come from very different backgrounds
Miller comes from two of the wealthiest families in Northeast Ohio and the nation – the Millers and the Ratners.
His paternal grandfather was Sam Miller, former co-chair of Forest City Realty Trust, which sold for $11.4 billion in 2018.
The family of his paternal grandmother, Ruth Ratner Miller, founded Forest City.
Both families, who are Jewish, for decades supported and advocated for Israel. And Miller now frequently positions himself as a leading pro-Israel voice in Congress. He’s also received significant donations from pro-Israel groups.
Miller, however, didn’t go into the family real estate business.
He worked as an educator at the yoga clothing powerhouse Lululemon and served in the U.S. Marine Reserves before getting into politics, first working on Marco Rubio’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign before joining up with Trump.
Poindexter, 47, had more humble beginnings in Cleveland. He was one of six children born to a machinist and a stay-at-home mom.
At 15, Poindexter went to work at a machine shop, taking 7 to 11 p.m. shifts on school nights and double shifts on weekends, his campaign said.
Poindexter’s working-class background appeals to voters like Adela Schroth.
“He knows more about the problems than Max Miller,” she said.
‘He’s innocent until proven guilty’
About an hour’s drive south of the suburban Strongsville mall, business was steady outside the Walmart Supercenter in Wooster, a college town on the fringes of Amish country and home to Ohio State University’s agricultural programs.
Here, as in all the other places reporters visited, Miller’s supporters were hesitant to talk, or to give their names for fear of backlash.
One Wayne County man who continues to support Miller said his decision is two-pronged: Miller, he said, has done a good job, and he feels Miller is innocent until proven guilty.
“There’s a lot of hearsay today” about the domestic abuse allegations, the man said. “It’s like we’ve already convicted a guy.”
A couple of voters in Medina and Solon echoed that sentiment.
“I don’t believe everything I hear,” said a woman sitting on a bench in Medina’s Uptown Park, who gave her name but didn’t want it made public. “There is so much nasty stuff going on. Is it true? Or is it just something someone put out there?”
Some said they’re in an awkward position, forced to choose between Miller and Sen. Moreno. They like both Republicans, but Moreno has said his former son-in-law is unfit to serve.
Outside the Solon branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library, Reginald Cole echoed that sentiment.
“He’s innocent until proven guilty,” Cole said. “That’s the law of the land and I abide by it.”
Miller has never been charged with any crimes involving the three women who have accused him of assault over the years.
The allegations have instead become public through court filings in his divorce and custody battle with Emily Moreno, a book written by Grisham and through the recollections of Miller’s Shaker Heights High School classmates.
Earlier this month, the House Committee on Ethics opened an investigation into Miller and allegations of domestic violence, family abuse and possible illegal drug use.
Miller himself called for that investigation, but it’s unclear if that’s what prompted the investigation. The Democratic Women’s Caucus also requested that the allegations against Miller be investigated.
Cole, 70, said he hasn’t decided whether to vote for Miller or Poindexter and hoped the findings of the ethics committee would help him make up his mind.
That report, however, is unlikely to be finished before the Nov. 3 election. Depending on the complexity of allegations and witness availability, such investigations can drag on a year or more.
And, if Miller loses the race, the probe will almost certainly end because the ethics committee only has jurisdiction over sitting lawmakers and their staff.
Cole said he’s voted for Republicans in the past but has leaned toward Democrats more recently.
Regardless of the ethics committee, Cole said his vote this year likely will go to whichever candidates have a plan for reining in costs and making life affordable again.
‘He’s a scumbag’
Voters who oppose Miller – and sometimes Trump in the same breath – were much more vocal.
Several said they believed the women who accused Miller of violence, particularly because the three cases were similar, happened at different times over the years and included Emily Moreno, who shares her former husband’s MAGA credentials.
“He’s a scumbag,” said Danielle Coppola, 50, who moved to Medina to care for her aging parents.
“If he doesn’t have the emotional regulation and is resorting to violence, it’s not someone I’d trust to have my values in mind,” Coppola said.
Coppola, a Democrat, said she’d feel the same if Miller were in her party and would not vote for him.
“Violence against women should not be a thing,” she said.
“We’re already taught to always hold our car keys in our hands,” she said, demonstrating how many women carry their keys with one clenched between their fingers to use as a defensive weapon.
On top of that, she said she’s concerned about the ‘MAGA-sphere’s” push for women to have more children.
“You’re already making me pull the weight with the job, with the family,” she said. “I deserve happiness, too.”
Jennie Brooks, 69, of Brunswick said she won’t consider voting for any Republicans this year because of the economy and how Trump is running the country.
But the vote against Miller, she said, is more than that.
“Believe the woman,” she said, using a phrase often associated with the #MeToo movement, which supports survivors of sexual harassment and assault.
In Wooster, Republican Shelly James said she didn’t vote for Miller before because he didn’t stand out.
Now, she said, he’s standing out for all the wrong reasons because of the scandal.
James, a restaurant manager and grandmother, said authorities like Miller should serve as role models and said he has failed.
“That’s not how I teach my grandkids,” James said, adding that she doesn’t want them adopting Miller’s alleged behavior.
Miller also lost the vote of Jamie Grier, a Republican from Creston.
“He should just drop out,” Grier said. “If it turns out he’s not guilty, then maybe I’ll vote for him next time.”
The deadline has passed for Miller to remove his name from the ballot, or to have his party replace him with someone else.
Protesters rally against Miller in Parma
More than 30 anti-Miller protesters, mostly women, gathered at the busy intersection of Ridge Road and Ridgewood Drive in Parma Aug. 14.
Their signs reflected their thoughts.
“Character Matters. No Place for Abuse,” one sign read. Another said, “We believe women. We protect children.”
Many carried blue stuffed animal bunnies, and one man dressed as a blue bunny, a nod to Sen. Moreno’s accusation that Miller was holding his granddaughter’s favorite toy “hostage” even though he knows the toddler was crying and having trouble sleeping without it.
Cindy Demsey of the Cuyahoga Democratic Women’s Caucus said the little girl is the real victim in the Miller scandal.
“It’s a nightmare to have that safety taken away,” Demsey said of the stuffed animal. “Do you really want that kind of person in Congress?”
Susan Shaw of Grassroots Resistance, a nonpartisan women-focused group, said the character of elected officials matters.
“Generations of women have been told that this is something they did,” Shaw said of survivors of domestic violence. “Women are starting to be believed.”
Organized by local Democratic-leaning and nonpartisan groups, the protest called on voters to support Poindexter.
Republican encourages voters to consider candidates’ actions, not just their words
Back in front of the Medina gazebo, as a band played a jazz version of a Pink Floyd song, the man handing out New Testaments said he’s been particularly disappointed by politicians who publicly embrace God or Christianity, but then behave or govern in ways that contradict those beliefs.
Hoecke said he usually votes Republican, but not “blindly,” and encouraged all voters to consider the deeds of who they are voting for, not just their words.
At 88, Hoecke said he feels free to express his opinions to anyone.
“I’m old enough that I don’t worry about those things anymore. I can just be real. No facade,” he said. “What you see is what you get.”
Beacon Journal reporter Amanda Garrett can be reached at agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Scumbag’ or ‘innocent’? What voters think of Congressman Max Miller
Reporting by Amanda Garrett, Stephanie Warsmith, Derek Kreider and Bryce Buyakie, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Amanda Garrett, Stephanie Warsmith, Derek Kreider and Bryce Buyakie, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
