Rep.-elect Brian Poindexter’s campaign acknowledged he is the subject of a sexual harassment investigation Friday, days after POLITICO reported two House Democratic groups had taken his name off their websites.
“Brian gave what he thought was an innocuous compliment to a volunteer. He heard later that it made her feel uncomfortable and he felt awful,” a spokesperson for the Ohio Democrat’s campaign 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,” the spokesperson added. “Neither Brian nor the campaign ever wants anyone to feel uncomfortable.”
The House Democratic campaign arm has hired an outside firm to investigate “allegations” against Poindexter, DCCC Executive Director Julie Merz said in a statement.
“The DCCC has been made aware of the allegations and takes them seriously. In the interest of fairness to all parties involved, we have hired an independent, third-party firm to investigate any instance of inappropriate behavior, conduct interviews and gather the facts,” she said in a Friday statement. “Upon completion of that investigation, which we have asked to be swift, thorough and transparent, the DCCC will have further comment.”
POLITICO has not confirmed details of the allegation against Poindexter. Punchbowl News previously reported the DCCC statement.
The news of an investigation comes after the political arms of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition and Congressional Progressive Caucus removed their endorsements of Poindexter around Election Day.
“We became aware of a report of alleged sexual harassment in the final days of the campaign,” Blue Dog PAC and CPC PAC said in a joint statement. “We informed the DCCC and connected the individual with legal advocacy and support services so she could determine how she wanted to proceed.”
The joint statement indicated that woman who made the complaint “requested that we did not disclose any details about this publicly” to protect her identity and to give her time to determine her next steps: “We respected her desires, and also felt we needed to immediately pull our endorsements pending the investigation being completed. The investigation is ongoing and we await the results.”
When asked about the endorsements during a brief interview on Capitol Hill, Poindexter said Tuesday, “My main focus right now is just setting up my office and stuff. There could be time to join ideological caucuses.”
He added, “Nothing to read into that. Just, I’m waiting to learn the political landscape.”
The campaign spokesperson said Friday, “As a lifelong ironworker, Brian always went out of his way to make everyone feel comfortable on any job site. He knows these are different worlds, but he will do the same in Congress.”
