House Democrats are investigating Brian Poindexter, the newly elected representative for a congressional district in north-eastern Ohio, after an allegation of sexual harassment was made against him during the final stages of the campaign.
Julie Merz, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said on Friday that the committee had hired an independent third-party firm to investigate the allegation, conduct interviews and establish the facts.
Ms Merz said the House Democratic campaign arm would make a further statement once the investigation had been completed.
The allegation was made by a woman whom Mr Poindexter’s campaign described as a volunteer. Reckoning Action, an advocacy organisation supporting victims of sexual misconduct, described her as a low-level campaign staffer. Neither the organisation nor the committee has disclosed the nature of the allegation, and the woman has not been identified.
Mr Poindexter’s campaign said he had given what he believed was “an innocuous compliment to a volunteer”.
“He heard later that it made her feel uncomfortable and he felt awful,” the campaign said. “When Brian learned about this, we immediately began to work to get to the bottom of it with an outside H.R. firm. Neither Brian nor the campaign ever wants anyone to feel uncomfortable.”
The allegation was not made public before election day on November 3. Democratic groups aligned with Mr Poindexter said the woman had asked for privacy.
Reckoning Action said it was providing support to the woman, who contacted its executive director, Cheyenne Hunt, on November 1. The organisation declined to provide further details.
Two political groups that had endorsed Mr Poindexter, the Blue Dog PAC and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, said they were withdrawing their support while the investigation took place.
In a joint statement, the groups said they had learned of a report of alleged sexual harassment in the final days of the campaign, informed the DCCC and connected the woman with legal advocacy and support services.
“The individual requested that we did not disclose any details about this publicly because she did not want her identity becoming public and she wanted an opportunity to determine how she wanted to proceed while protecting herself,” the groups said.
They said they had respected her wishes but felt they needed to withdraw their endorsements pending the outcome of the investigation. The groups had already removed Mr Poindexter’s name from their websites without publicly explaining why.
Mr Poindexter defeated Republican representative Max Miller, whose former wife accused him of physically abusing her and their young daughter. Mr Miller denied those accusations, which became a focus of the campaign.
Earlier this week, Mr Poindexter said there was “nothing to read into” his removal from the two PACs’ websites, adding: “Just, I’m waiting to learn the political landscape.”
