New congressman faces sexual harassment allegation

Washington — House Democrats are investigating an allegation of sexual harassment against Brian Poindexter, who defeated embattled GOP Rep. Max Miller of Ohio in last week's elections. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats' campaign arm, said Friday that it had hired an independent firm to investigate "any instance of inappropriate behavior, conduct interviews and gather the facts." 

"The DCCC has been made aware of the allegations and takes them seriously," the group's executive director, Julie Merz, said in a statement.  

A spokesperson for Poindexter's campaign characterized his actions as "an innocuous compliment to a volunteer."

"He heard later that it made her feel uncomfortable and he felt awful," the spokesperson said in a statement. "When Brian learned about this, we immediately began to work to get to the bottom of it with an outside HR firm. Neither Brian nor the campaign ever wants anyone to feel uncomfortable." 

The investigation comes as Congress grapples with how to overhaul how it handles allegations of sexual misconduct as numerous lawmakers have faced complaints. 

The DCCC was made aware of the allegations from two political action committees — the Blue Dog PAC and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC — which said they were informed of a report of alleged sexual harassment in the final days before the election. 

"We informed the DCCC and connected the individual with legal advocacy and support services so she could determine how she wanted to proceed," the PACs said in a joint statement Friday. "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 PACs said they pulled their endorsements from Poindexter "pending the investigation being completed."