BROOK PARK, Ohio (AP) — Janie Grosjean was torn about voting for embattled Republican Rep. Max Miller this year.
The 75-year-old from Wooster, a historic college town in Miller's northeast Ohio district, has led an interdenominational women's Bible study for nearly three decades. She has been alarmed at allegations of domestic abuse against Miller by his ex-wife and more than one ex-girlfriend, leading some of his colleagues in Congress over the summer to say he should step down.
Both of Ohio's U.S. senators, fellow Republicans Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno, Miller's former father-in-law, said Miller was unfit to serve in Congress. The House has opened an ethics investigation.
Despite her reservations, Grosjean voted a straight GOP ticket when it came time to fill out her ballot. She said the Republican Party is pursuing the “biblically based” platform she wants to support.
“I'm very disappointed in the things that have come out, but I went ahead and voted for him, anyway,” she said outside the Wayne County early voting center last week. “That was my decision, because of the background of what the parties believe.”
It's the kind of response that Miller, 43, and other Republicans are hoping for as they try to hold their majority in the U.S. House amid deep anxiety over rising costs and the war in Iran.
Miller's has been a safe GOP-leaning district, but it is one Democrats now feel optimistic they can flip. Their candidate is Brian Poindexter, a 46-year-old union ironworker who has attracted a strong following among the many service and manufacturing workers in Ohio's 7th Congressional District.
“I've been able to reach that blue-collar guy, that union guy that Democrats have lost,” Poindexter said recently while wrapping up a campaign appearance focused on high gas prices — across from a Circle K, where unleaded subject to a gas tax holiday was selling for $3.68 per gallon — in Brook Park, the Cleveland suburb where he was a longtime councilman. “I'm overwhelmed that people from all over the political spectrum have decided to jump on board and say, ‘Hey, I want to support this guy.’”
Miller defied bipartisan calls in August to step aside and proceeded with his reelection campaign, likening his situation in a CNN interview to the notorious “Access Hollywood” tape that was leaked during Trump's first run for the White House in 2016, when Trump ultimately defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
It was believed then that Trump's chance at winning had evaporated, Miller said: “But guess what? He stayed in, and he was resilient.”
In ads, Democratic-aligned groups have hammered Miller over the abuse allegations leveled by his former wife, the senator's daughter Emily Moreno. Her allegations include claims that he threw boiling water at her and held a gun to her head, as well as details of an investigation into their 2-year-old daughter's broken collarbone.
Miller denies the abuse charges and has filed defamation lawsuits against Emily Moreno and ex-girlfriend Stephanie Grisham, a one-time White House press secretary who accused him of physical abuse. Grisham more recently sued Miller for violating the settlement agreement in that case.
In a recent campaign video posted to his X account, Miller addressed the allegations by acknowledging the “painful reality” of divorce and saying, “My family’s heartbreak has made national news because that is the nature of politics.” He noted that he still shares custody of his daughter.
Both major political parties are pouring money into the race.
House Majority PAC, the super PAC affiliated with House Democrats, has committed more than $6 million for ads in the Cleveland area to boost Poindexter. Its Republican counterpart, the Congressional Leadership Fund, has booked more than $5.5 million in TV airtime, according to AdImpact, which tracks ad spending. Each candidate also is spending on ads.
Miller's is not a seat Republicans initially thought they would need to defend. Trump won the district by 11 percentage points against Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024, the year Miller won a solid 51% of the vote in a three-way contest. Miller's opponents were Democrat Matthew Diemer and former eight-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who ran as an independent and this year has endorsed Poindexter.
Miller got into politics at Trump's behest in 2021. He was a White House aide in Trump's first term, when the president hand-picked the scion of the Ratner family, which made a fortune in Cleveland real estate, to challenge U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez. The congressman was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the president after his followers violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Gonzalez opted to leave politics rather than endure a tough primary fight against Miller.
Though he has endorsed Miller, Trump's praise of him has been far less glowing since the summer. With the spotlight turned on his domestic troubles, Miller was not among the Republicans the president featured on stage at a rally in Youngstown last week, though he did attend.
“Thank you, Max, for coming,” Trump said to Miller, as he sat in the audience. “Thank you. Very good.”
Mary Wright-Ally and Susan Scheutzow, who both run Cleveland-area small businesses, said they are voting for Poindexter for many more reasons than just the allegations Miller faces over his treatment of women. They said their livelihoods and those of their customers have been hit hard by rising gas prices and Trump's tariffs. They also are angry over Miller's steady support for the war in Iran.
“I am a pro-union Democrat, old-school. I'm also anti-Max Miller. Max Miller drove a BMW to high school,” Wright-Ally said. “He has never had to worry about the cost of gas in his life. He's old money. He doesn't understand the plight of working people. He never had to worry about lunch money for his kids.”
She said Poindexter, who has called on Miller to oppose the war, will do a better job representing district residents.
Therese Mennell, 71, of Creston, said it's the Democrats who have become increasingly out of touch with average Americans, including by failing to support the Trump administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement.
“Oh, I'm all about ICE,” she said, calling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's recent sweeps necessary for the nation's safety.
She said this year she voted for Republicans, including Miller. That's despite the low public profile he's kept in the district since summer, rarely promoting any public events and focusing most of his efforts on appearances before fellow Republicans.
Neither Miller's congressional office nor his campaign responded to repeated requests by The Associated Press for an interview and access to his campaign events.
In an Oct. 7 guest column in the Akron Beacon Journal, Miller touted his record in Congress supporting the Trump agenda — including border security, increased deportations and certain tax cuts — and introducing bills to provide tax relief to fraud victims and expanded education opportunities for foster youths.
For Scheutzow, Miller's initial support for the war in Iran and his opposition to war powers resolutions is a deal-breaker.
She said she also aligns with Poindexter in opposing Trump's tariffs, which have seriously affected her small business, a combined art space and bakery where the price of European chocolate for her truffles is up 50%.
“This economy," she said, “is just killing us all.”
FILE - Brian Poindexter, Democratic nominee for Ohio's 7th congressional district, speaks at the Strongsville Democratic Club meeting, Aug. 5, 2026, in Strongsville, Ohio. (AP Photo/Nate Manley, File)
FILE - Rep.-elect Max Miller, R-Ohio, arrives for new member orientation check-in and program registration with Emily Moreno in Washington, Nov. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)
FILE - Brian Poindexter, Democratic nominee for Ohio's 7th congressional district, speaks at the Strongsville Democratic Club meeting, Aug. 5, 2026, in Strongsville, Ohio. (AP Photo/Nate Manley, File)
Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islander adults have become more disillusioned with President Donald Trump and Republicans as the Nov. 3 midterm elections approach, according to a new AP-NORC/AAPI Data poll, giving Democrats a substantial edge on major issues like the economy and health care.
Meanwhile, Trump on Sunday endorsed embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late in his reelection campaign, a coveted boost because of Trump’s popularity, but one that the American had withheld for months as the vote neared and the leaders’ strategies in the Middle East diverged.
Here's the latest:
The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider whether Congress had the constitutional authority to impose a ban on distilling spirits in private homes more than 150 years ago.
Plaintiffs challenging the prohibition on home distilling claim the 1868 law is an antiquated relic of Reconstruction-era politics. They argue that Congress overstepped its taxation powers when it enacted the home distilling ban as part of a tax reform measure designed to curb fraud by commercial distillers.
Government attorneys counter that Congress properly restricted where spirits can be distilled to prevent producers from evading federal excise taxes. They warn that lifting the ban would violate Supreme Court precedent and erode congressional powers.
Federal law makes home distilling a crime punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov were both asked about a Wall Street Journal report that Russian President Vladimir Putin could try to use a possible meeting with Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to try to negotiate a deal on Ukraine behind Kyiv’s back.
Rubio told reporters in Uzbekistan that “I think there’s been talks of a meeting. I don’t know anything’s been finalized. But the president has been clear he’d like the war in Ukraine and Russia to end.”
Peskov, meanwhile, said separately that while the possibility of such a meeting has been mentioned, “no substantive proposals or agreements neither regarding the meeting itself nor its potential agenda and content have been discussed or put forward by anyone.”
He added that Russia appreciates Washington’s ongoing mediation efforts, but “a final settlement is certainly impossible without the participation of someone from Kyiv who is prepared to take on responsibility.”
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler and Democratic challenger Cait Conley put aside their political rancor this weekend — at least for one song — during a street fair that had the two candidates dancing near one another.
Lawler hit a little air guitar. Conley was doing a lot of stomping and clapping.
“Great time at the Suffern Street Fair — even found opportunity for a little bipartisan dance off with @CaitforNewYork!” Lawler wrote in a social media video that included a video of the two opponents awkwardly grooving in close proximity. “Even during the heat of a campaign, it’s good to have a little fun.”
The race in New York’s Hudson Valley is considered one of the country’s most competitive contests this fall.
The Democratic congresswoman carried a dull kitchen knife and two pairs of rusty scissors through a county fairgrounds south of Seattle.
She handed them to Beverly Phoenix, who sat hunched over a table in the back of an exhibit hall, volunteering to help neighbors breathe new life into old tools. Now she offered advice to a member of Congress on using a Dremel, a handheld oscillating device, to sharpen the blades.
It was an unassuming campaign stop that reinforced Gluesenkamp Perez’s message of self sufficiency. The owner of an auto repair shop with her husband, Gluesenkamp Perez has positioned herself as someone who can help her party bridge the divide between urban and rural, blue collar and white collar, left and right.
If Democrats are going to take back control of the U.S. House, they need to hold districts like this one in Southwest Washington, which twice elected Gluesenkamp Perez while also supporting Trump in all of his campaigns.
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Chris Martinez feels like Donald Trump has made a fool of him.
The 28-year-old maintenance technician from Casa Grande, Arizona, voted for the Republican president expecting to get a thriving economy and no wars.
Instead, gas prices are so high that Martinez returned one of his vehicles to the lender, he shifted his food shopping to a discount grocer and he has watched as the United States has spent months in conflict with Iran.
“He’s doing nothing for us, to benefit us,” Martinez said. “And it kind of sucks because I got duped and I feel like a dummy.”
As a group, Latinos shifted toward Trump two years ago, helping return him to the White House with a Republican-controlled Congress. Now, many like Martinez are souring on the president and his party, which could upend the balance of power in Washington in the Nov. 3 elections.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to reporters in Uzbekistan and was asked to comment on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s remarks to NBC, in which he said Washington’s intelligence sharing “was blocked for some period of time and then it was deblocked.”
“I don’t know where he’s getting these things from or why he’s saying these things to the press,” Rubio said. “There’s been no pause.”
Zelenskyy should be focused on “bringing an end to this war,” Rubio said. “That’s what we want everybody to be focused on,” he added.
Rubio stressed that “we want the war to end.” “We see nothing good coming from this war, and we see a lot of downside to it, including the very real risk of escalation” and the conflict “spreading into another country,” he said.
The economic strain is becoming a growing political concern for Republicans in states they’ve long dominated. President Trump is heading to Kansas on Monday and Iowa later in the week, the latest in a series of stops where he’s trying to energize his base in the final weeks before the midterm elections.
The visits come as Republicans pour money into Senate races in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa amid concerns about voter enthusiasm. The anxiety may be especially notable in Kansas — a state Trump won by 16 percentage points against Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 — as Republican Sen. Roger Marshall faces a tough challenge from Democrat Adam Hamilton. Democrats haven’t won a Senate election in Kansas in 94 years.
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Trump on Sunday endorsed embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late in his reelection campaign, a coveted boost because of Trump’s popularity but one that the American had withheld for months as the vote neared and the leaders’ strategies in the Middle East diverged.
Trump said in a post on social media that Netanyahu “has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combating the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Israelis are set to vote Oct. 27, in the first national elections since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The absence of an endorsement was a setback for the Likud politician, who had billed his tight ties to the Republican president as a selling point for staying in power.
It was not immediately clear what impact the endorsement would have on what is expected to be a tight race. Trump is still popular in Israel, but many Israelis, including leading commentators, have expressed disappointment over the inconclusive outcome of the Iran war and Trump’s ceasefire proposal.
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Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islander adults have become more disillusioned with President Donald Trump and Republicans as the Nov. 3 midterm elections approach, according to a new AP-NORC/AAPI Data poll, giving Democrats a substantial edge on major issues like the economy and health care.
The survey, which was conducted from Sept. 8-15 by AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, reveals that Trump’s standing on the economy has fallen among AAPI adults over the course of his second term.
About one-quarter of AAPI adults approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president overall. Only about 2 in 10 approve of his performance on the economy, which the vast majority of AAPI adults see as one of the most important issues for the upcoming election.
But although AAPI adults trust Democrats more than Republicans on a wide range of issues, views of the Democratic Party itself are still split.
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FILE - Chinese Americans supporters of former President Donald Trump stand outside the hotel where the 2023 Fall California Republican Convention is being held in Anaheim, Calif., Sept. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
