Former President Donald Trump tries to tip the scale in the reconfigured 7th congressional districts Republi – cleveland.com

WADSWORTH, Ohio -- Former President Donald Trumps continued sway over the Republican party in Northeast Ohio looms large over a four-way primary to pick its candidate to run in a reconfigured congressional district that includes western and southern Cuyahoga County, Medina and Wayne counties, and northern Holmes County.

Instead of weathering fire from Trump, the two GOP incumbents who currently represent the 7th congressional districts new turf decided against seeking re-election.

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Rocky River announced his retirement in the wake of voting to impeach Trump after last years Capitol Hill riot by Trump supporters who wanted to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election. Blowback against Gonzalez was swift. A former White House aide to Trump -- Max Miller -- launched a campaign against Gonzalez with Trumps endorsement. The Ohio Republican Party called on Gonzalez to resign and Trump held his first rally during the election cycle in Lorain County to back Miller.

The GOP congressman who represents the next highest proportion of its territory -- Rep. Bob Gibbs Holmes County -- decided to retire after a district map was released that lumped him in with Miller and others who got into the race to challenge Gonzalez. Gibbs released a statement that criticized the circus redistricting has become in Ohio. Trumps camp announced his Miller endorsement would carry over to a primary against Gibbs, even though Gibbs was a loyal Trump supporter throughout Trumps lone term.

The reconfigured district is 53.61% Republican, according to Daves Redistricting App, which means the winner of the GOP primary between Miller, non-profit founder Jonah Schulz, small business owner Charlie Gaddis of Medina, and Berea social worker and podcaster Anthony Leon Alexander has a strong chance of winning in the congressional seat in November.

The sole candidate in the Democratic primary is Bay Village podcast producer Matthew Diemer. The two other Democrats who filed paperwork to run for the seat suspended their campaigns.

In addition to having Trumps endorsement, Miller has a huge cash advantage over his competitors.

As of April 13, Miller had raised almost $2 million for his campaign, and spent slightly over $1.5 million, filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission indicate. The campaign had $456,633 in the bank, and owed $550,000 in loans to the candidate, who is a grandson of Forest City Enterprises founder Sam Miller.

Schulz has raised $73,898 during the election cycle and spent $68,811. His campaign had $6,765 in the bank, and showed a $2,500 loan from his father. Gaddis reports show hes raised $23,606 for his campaign -- including a $19,356 loan he made from personal funds -- and spent $14,686. His campaign account balance was most recently listed as -$8,512.19. Alexander has not filed paperwork at the Federal Election Commission to indicate that hes raised money.

Democrat Diemer has raised $109,067 so far, spent $103,507 and had $5,560 left. He has loaned $38,600 to his campaign.

Trump highlighted his support for Miller and other Ohio candidates hes endorsed at a rally last weekend in Delaware County.

Hes a great guy, going to be a tremendous congressman, Trump said of Miller, who was known as the Music Man at the White House because his tasks included playing Trumps favorite show tunes, such as Memory from Cats, to calm him down when he was upset. Im proud of him. Hes like, my boy.

Miller applauded Trump as the greatest president of our lifetimes, and described himself and the other Trump-endorsed candidates as America first fighters that are always going to work for you.

People have it backwards in DC, Miller continued. We know very well that our main job is that we work for you and you dont work for us.

Miller also paid his respects to the Trump family a few days before the rally at a Lincoln Day Dinner in Wadsworth. Donald Trump, Jr., was the headline speaker at the event to benefit Medina Countys Republican Party. A Make America Great Again hat autographed by the former president sold for several thousand dollars at a fundraising auction at the event, as did several guns.

In an interview after he met behind closed doors with the younger Trump, Miller said primary voters should support him because of his experience working for Trump. He said sitting down with Congress members and governors in that capacity convinced him most are there to manipulate the system and line their own coffers. If elected, he said he would not take a federal pension and would give part of his salary to community charities that help homeless veterans and alleviate the opioid epidemic.

If he becomes a member of Congress, he says he would fight inflation by stopping the Federal Reserve from pumping more money into the financial system, would support U.S. energy independence, and would work to establish a merit-based immigration system. He opposes abortion with no exceptions.

Miller describes Trumps endorsement as the greatest political endorsement that politics has ever seen, and says the former president has 92 percent support among Republicans in the district, but insists hes not relying on it to win support. He said he has put in the hard work to campaign in his district, established relationships in the community and knocked on voters doors.

Millers Trump ties come with baggage. The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol says Miller helped plan the Trump rally on the Ellipse that preceded the riot and subpoenaed his testimony. Miller describes the probe as a complete sham and political persecution, but says he answered the committees questions.

He says members of the committee asked him if the Deep State was real, even though its subpoena said theyd ask him about his role planning the rally.

I told them that it was every career federal bureaucrat who was sitting on the call, and Republican elected official who had been in Congress for more than three terms, you are the deep state, he said. And I also told them that theyre on a wild ice fishing expedition up in the Arctic, and they dont know what fishing hole to go to, because they have nothing.

In addition to addressing the January 6th commissions inquiries, Miller is fending off allegations that he physically abused a former girlfriend, ex-White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who aired her grievances in a book published last year and a Washington Post column she authored when the book was released. Miller filed a defamation suit against Grisham in Cuyahoga County over her abuse allegations, which he says are false. Grisham asked to have the case dismissed on the grounds that none of the alleged abuse happened in Ohio. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Emily Hagan declined to dismiss the case.

Jonah Schulz of Cleveland is running s a Republican in Ohio's 7th congressional district.

The other three candidates in the race are doing their best to round up support from local Republicans without Millers advantages.

As he worked the crowd at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Wadsworth, Schulz discounted the impact of Trumps endorsement in the race. He said many political endorsements are based on who you know, connections or your financial situation, and dont necessarily boost the best candidate. He said that while Miller attended Trumps rally far from the district in Delaware County, Schulz and his campaign team would be knocking on doors in Wooster.

Everybody that I have talked to is saying Im going to do my own research, Im going to do my own homework and make my own decision, Schulz said. Weve seen the results of blindly following endorsements and blindly following money for a long time and that hasnt done us any favors.

The founder of a charity that transforms neglected baseball fields in underprivileged communities into state-of-the-art ballparks, Schulz describes himself as the only candidate who will challenge the status quo on both sides,. He says he would not be swayed by special interests, big donors, or corporations, because his campaign is 100% funded by individual contributions.

He says hes a grassroots candidate who is in touch with voters because hes been meeting with them for months. Since launching his campaign 15 months ago, Schulz says hes knocked on over 60,000 doors, attended over 300 campaign events, distributed over 1,000 yard signs and has large signs up on heavily trafficked areas throughout the district. The campaign is also doing mailers, texting and radio ads -- everything that we can possibly do short of TV ads, says Schulz.

He says GOP voters were most concerned about election integrity and coronavirus-related mandates and lockdowns when he initially began campaigning, and now care most about inflation and rising gasoline prices that are straining family budgets. If elected, he said he would support an all of the above energy approach and promote oil and gas drilling in the United States.

He argues that both political parties contributed to runaway spending, and said he backs a balanced budget amendment to ensure that we are not spending trillions of dollars over what we are bringing in as tax revenue. He said he supports constructing a border wall to keep immigrants from entering the United States illegally, holding businesses accountable if they hire illegal workers who undercut the wages paid to U.S. citizens, and ending the welfare system that attracts illegal immigrants here in the first place.

Charlie Gaddis is a small business owner in Medina County.

Gaddis, who runs a business that provides project management services to large U.S. companies, says hes the best candidate for the district because of his decades of business experience and creative problem solving abilities. He also discounts Trumps endorsement of Miller, telling conservative radio host Bob Frantz that while many of Trumps policies are fantastic, some of the people hes endorsed were bad choices and Trump would like the policies Gaddis supports

He wants to bring down gasoline prices by going forward with the Keystone pipeline, purchasing more oil from Canada, suspending the federal gas tax, and stopping price gouging investigations of oil companies.

Our energy policy needs to be about stability and independence domestically, as we morph to a greener economy. and internationally about denying bad actors excessive profits to wage war and mayhem, said a statement from Gaddis.

He supports abandoning the income tax, and instead instituting consumption-based taxes on consumers who buy products. He argues that taxing products as theyre built and embedding those taxes in the costs that consumers pay for goods puts U.S. products at a cost disadvantage to foreign goods that dont face such taxes, and has contributed to the decline of the U.S. industrial base.

In addition to completing the physical border wall that Trump sought to keep illegal immigrants out of the United States, Gaddis said hed like to impose a virtual wall that would require proof of citizenship to access banks, hospitals, schools, gain employment or receive government benefit.

He describes himself as a big fan of rugged individualism, and supports smaller government with greater opportunities for businesses and individuals.

The more freedom we have, the better we do, says Gaddis.

Anthony Leon Alexander of Berea is a Republican candidate in Ohio's 7th congressional district.

Alexander, who works as a site supervisor for an organization that helps people with developmental disabilities and also does podcasts, says hes running for office because he thinks the current crop of politicians who represents his area dont listen to voters or have empathy to build the community and to decide whats in the best interests for the people that voted for you.

I want to be one of those people who tries to make a difference, says Alexander, who serves on Bereas planning commission and on its tax incentive review council.

If elected, he said hed support increasing the minimum wage to help people cope with out-of-control costs, as well as providing controlled stimulus checks. He said some people who took stimulus checks could have been working and he takes offense when I hear stories about people who would rather sit back and collect the check when they could go to work.

He says immigrants must enter the country legally and go by our rules to stay.

He says hed support expanding insurance to have mental-health coverage, and taking other steps to help those who are hurting.

Being a single parent, Ive seen the opportunities and hardships that affect everyday families, Alexander says. From housing, to education, from living paycheck to paycheck. Ive lived and am still living like most families.

What voters say

In addition to securing Trumps endorsement, Miller is endorsed by Cuyahoga Countys Republican party. Executive committee chair Lisa Stickan said hes gone to several GOP clubs and community events in the county since last year, and built lots of support in the area.

Strongsville GOP board member Rob Winwood says his club endorsed Miller because its members liked his youth and Washington experience. Volunteers from the group are canvassing on Millers behalf, added board member Beverly Jones.

Lisa Woods, who runs the Medina County friends and Neighbors Republican group said her organization has not issued an endorsement, but around half her members like Miller and the others like Schulz.

People are real passionate about one or the other, Woods reports.

Republican voters interviewed before Donald Trump, Jr.s Wadsworth speech were divided between backing Schulz and Miller. Former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, who chairs Medina Countys Republican party and held the congressional seat before Gonzalez, declined to say who he thought was ahead.

The districts just got set, said Renacci, whose gubernatorial campaign signs lined the street outside the event. Max is endorsed by Trump. Jonah is a good guy.

Craig Wanko of Seville said he backs Schulz because of his opposition to illegal mandates that were imposed after the coronavirus pandemic. He said Trumps endorsement of Miller doesnt matter to him, even though he enjoys attending Trump rallies and wore a red MAGA cap to the dinner.

I support Trump, but not all his endorsements, said Wanko.

Elaina Zgrabik of Hinckley also said shell vote for Schulz.

He has been hitting the pavement hard and I think he will do a lot of good for the area, she said.

Gary Fox of Wadsworth said hell vote for Miller because of his service in the Trump administration and his background as a U.S. Marine Corps reservist.

I like Jonah a lot, but I think Max is more qualified, Fox added.

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Former President Donald Trump tries to tip the scale in the reconfigured 7th congressional districts Republi - cleveland.com