Brian Poindexter, the Democrat running for Congress in Ohio's competitive Seventh District, was arrested in 1998 for allegedly trying to swallow crack cocaine during a traffic stop and again in 2013 for slapping a stranger at a baseball game.
Police records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show that Poindexter, now a city councilman and former union organizer, has a criminal rap sheet dating back to the late 1990s, a history that had not surfaced publicly as he campaigns to flip one of the most closely watched House seats in the country.
The revelation lands in a race that was already defined by personal misconduct. Poindexter's Republican opponent, Rep. Max Miller, faces his own domestic abuse allegations from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, who has accused him of scalding, hitting, and threatening her during their marriage, claims Miller denies. Both of Ohio's senators, including Miller's former father-in-law Sen. Bernie Moreno, have called on Miller to drop out. He refused, and the deadline to replace him on the ballot has now passed, locking him in as the GOP nominee.
Voters in Ohio's Seventh District now face a choice between two candidates dogged by serious personal conduct questions, one involving unproven abuse allegations and the other involving documented arrests.
On January 23, 1998, police pulled over Poindexter at a Cleveland street corner described in the report as known for heavy drug activity. He was 18 years old. During the stop, Poindexter allegedly pulled small objects from his coat pocket, shoved them into his mouth, and began swallowing them.
An officer tried to retrieve the objects. The two men fell to the ground in a scuffle. Police recovered what the report described as a "rock of suspected crack cocaine." Poindexter was arrested for "drug abuse."
Whether he was ultimately prosecuted or convicted remains unclear. The Free Beacon's report does not include a disposition for the case, and the Cleveland Police Department did not respond to the outlet's request for comment.
A Poindexter campaign spokesman dismissed the implications of the arrest in blunt terms.
"Any implication that Brian has used hard drugs is false. Any suggestion otherwise is bulls***."
The spokesman did not address the police report's specific details, the street corner, the objects placed in Poindexter's mouth, or the recovered substance.
The second arrest came on August 10, 2013, at a Cleveland Indians game during a "Dollar Dog Day" promotion. Poindexter was 34. Bob Rzepka, a 55-year-old resident of Ohio's Seventh Congressional District, was at the game with his son when he witnessed Poindexter swallow an entire hot dog in one motion, bun and all.
Rzepka described the scene to the Free Beacon:
"He opened up one of the dollar dogs, and he shoved that whole thing in his mouth in one fell swoop, and just swallowed it. Bread, hot dog, everything."
Rzepka said he and his son looked at each other in disbelief. He approached Poindexter and, by his own account, offered to buy him another hot dog and asked if he could record a video of the feat. Rzepka told the Free Beacon he meant it as a lighthearted compliment.
"I said, 'Hey man, if I buy you a hot dog, will you shove that f***ing thing down your throat like you did? And can I get a video of it? Because people will never believe me.'"
Poindexter, who appeared heavily intoxicated, took offense. Rzepka recalled trying to defuse the situation.
"He's like, 'Hey, were you trying to insinuate something?' I go, 'No, man. I just think it's crazy that you just shoved that freaking hot dog down your throat without even taking a bite of it.'"
Then came the strike. Rzepka said Poindexter slapped him across the face without warning.
"And then he just, wham, just smacked me right across the f***ing face."
Police nearby arrested Poindexter for assault and removed him from the stadium. The police report stated Poindexter slapped Rzepka "for no known reason." Even after being escorted out, Poindexter allegedly stood outside the fence and continued shouting insults at Rzepka.
Rzepka declined to press charges when officers asked. Whether prosecutors pursued the case independently is not addressed in the available records.
Rzepka told the Free Beacon he had no idea who Poindexter was at the time of the 2013 incident. He found out years later, when Poindexter launched his congressional bid.
"The guy who slapped me at a baseball game is running for Congress?"
Rzepka lives in the district Poindexter hopes to represent. His assessment was direct: Poindexter "definitely has some anger issues" and "I wouldn't want him representing me."
Ohio's Seventh Congressional District was not supposed to be competitive. Trump carried it by 11 points in 2024. But Miller's domestic troubles have turned it into a genuine battleground. Miller won his last race with just over 51 percent of the vote, and Democrats have openly targeted the seat. The House Majority PAC said it is "willing to do whatever it takes to take back the House, and nothing is off the table," AP News reported.
Poindexter has built real institutional support. He has secured endorsements from major unions including Ironworkers International, the UAW, AFSCME, and the Ohio AFL-CIO, Breitbart reported. His campaign has positioned him as a working-class alternative to a Republican incumbent weighed down by personal scandal.
But the police records raise a different set of questions about Poindexter's fitness for office. A drug arrest at 18 might be written off as youthful trouble, except that the campaign's response did not engage with the specifics of the police report, only denied the conclusion. And the 2013 assault arrest happened when Poindexter was 34, a grown man allegedly striking a 55-year-old stranger at a family event over a misunderstood compliment about a hot dog.
Miller, for his part, is self-funding his campaign with $1 million of his own money after Republican groups expressed uncertainty about spending on his behalf. He told reporters he does not share others' concerns about his ability to win. Sen. Bernie Moreno publicly accused Miller of "erratic and dangerous behavior" in calling for his resignation, but Miller stayed in, and the clock ran out on any replacement.
The campaign spokesman's denial on the crack cocaine arrest was notable for what it did not say. The spokesman called the suggestion that Poindexter used hard drugs "bulls***", but did not explain why police recovered a rock of suspected crack cocaine from his mouth during a traffic stop on a known drug corner in Cleveland. Denials work best when they address the facts on the table. This one did not.
Voters in Ohio's Seventh District deserve candidates who can withstand basic scrutiny. Right now, neither side is giving them one.
