Former President Donald Trump tries to tip the scale in the reconfigured 7th

WADSWORTH, Ohio — Former President Donald Trump’s 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 district’s 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 year’s 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 Trump’s 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.” Trump’s camp announced his Miller endorsement would carry over to a primary against Gibbs, even though Gibbs was a loyal Trump supporter throughout Trump’s lone term.

The reconfigured district is 53.61% Republican, according to Dave’s 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 Trump’s 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 he’s 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 he’s 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 he’s endorsed at a rally last weekend in Delaware County.

“He’s 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 Trump’s favorite show tunes, such as “Memory” from Cats, to calm him down when he was upset. “I’m proud of him. He’s 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 don’t 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 County’s 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 Trump’s 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 he’s 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.

Miller’s 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 committee’s questions.

He says members of the committee asked him if “the Deep State was real,” even though its subpoena said they’d 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 they’re on a wild ice fishing expedition up in the Arctic, and they don’t know what fishing hole to go to, because they have nothing.”

In addition to addressing the January 6th commission’s 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.

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

As he worked the crowd at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Wadsworth, Schulz discounted the impact of Trump’s endorsement in the race. He said many political endorsements are “based on who you know, connections or your financial situation,” and don’t necessarily boost the best candidate. He said that while Miller attended Trump’s 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 ‘I’m going to do my own research, I’m going to do my own homework and make my own decision,’” Schulz said. “We’ve seen the results of blindly following endorsements and blindly following money for a long time and that hasn’t 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 he’s a “grassroots” candidate who is in touch with voters because he’s been meeting with them for months. Since launching his campaign 15 months ago, Schulz says he’s 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…