BAY VILLAGE, Ohio — As November’s midterm elections approach, Democrat Matthew Diemer spoke exclusively with Spectrum News about his race against Republican Max Miller, a former aide to President Donald Trump, in Ohio’s 7th District.
A full, uncut conversation can be watched above or read the full transcript below. The interview took place on Aug. 25, 2022.
Watch the full report on the race in the 7th Congressional District by clicking here.
Taylor Popielarz: As you’re introducing yourself to voters, what is your 30-second elevator pitch—why you’re running? Why you deserve to be elected?
Matthew Diemer: Well, I think that through this interview, you’re going to get to know me quite a bit. And you’re going to know about my experience, personal and professional. But I’m coming to this because I think we just need to elect good people into Washington. I want to unite, not divide. I want to put policy over politics. I think right now, it’s politics over policy. I want to make sure that we’re talking to everybody in Ohio’s 7th District and creating solutions for this district in Washington. And that is really what my goal is.
Taylor Popielarz: Right now, there’s obviously always a lot going on in the political world. What would you say is the top issue facing the 7th District right now?
Matthew Diemer: Well, I think that we have to walk and chew gum at the same time. There’s a lot of issues that are on the plate right now. There’s [inaudible] supply chain—I think that there’s a lot of supply chain issues. There’s companies that want to come back to the U.S., or be developed in some state around the United States. I want to make sure that’s in Ohio’s 7th District. There is rights. I mean, women’s reproductive rights, that’s a big one. And we have to fix that in Ohio 7, like now, ASAP, by electing good people in Washington and codifying Roe. So, there’s a breadth of issues that we have to do immediately in Washington.
Taylor Popielarz: Why, if somebody just asked you point blank, why you’re right for this job, and Max Miller is wrong for it, what’s your response?
Matthew Diemer: I think that would be a little bit more of a winded answer. I would say that, look, I was born in Slavic Village in Cleveland, Ohio. I’ve grown up in urban areas and rural areas. I am a high school dropout, also a scholarship recipient for my MBA, as well as got a bachelor’s degree, a small business owner, and I’m conversationally fluent in Chinese. So, through all this, I have always had this—I was always trying to work hard and build myself up. And so, I’m sitting in this race being the Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress, the same as he is, yet he was handed everything. He was handed a trust fund. He was handed all the opportunities in the world, and we’re in the same race together. And what we’re going to see here is you’re seeing somebody who thinks that he’s owed this and somebody who has worked for it. And that’s what I think they’re going to see. Like I said earlier, we’re going to have hopefully a longer conversation about different things, and I’m going to show everybody that these different life experiences allows me to empathize with these different and vast demographics here in Ohio 7. So, we’re talking about Solon and Bay Village and Rocky River demographic, to Brook Park to Brecksville to Wayne and Worcester to Medina, to even a smidgen of homes. And we need somebody that has lived those experiences—I’m not saying all those experiences; I can’t say that I’m the farmer and I know everything about farming—but I have lived in rural areas, and I know that we need to talk to them. We need to make everything inclusive for everybody so we can get solutions for everyone in this district.
Taylor Popielarz: I’ve read into your background and it is quite a story, ranging from when you went out to Hawaii, to working in restaurants, to when you worked overseas, to coming back here, having your media company. When somebody dives into that story, and they see it, and then they compare it with Max Miller’s, which you hinted at a bit—but he did, you know, work kind of at the top of politics in America. He was working on presidential campaigns in the White House. And they say both are compelling stories in different ways, but to be a member of Congress, it might make sense that Max has already been there and been able to pull back the curtain and see what was happening there. Why should we give you a chance? What do you say?
Matthew Diemer: Well, I think that just goes back to how you want to be represented. Do we want people who have been in Washington that know how Washington works? Or do we want to have people that have been down there washing dishes, is a small business owner, out there talking to people, have been abroad, has, you know, cooked in restaurants, have waited tables, and yet built themselves up. Has been an executive as well. To try to represent the people. And that’s what I want to be. I want to be a representative of the people. And so, when we say people are going to go to Washington, we have to figure out what this job means. And we have to explain what this job means. It’s not, ‘I have been in Washington, so I know how Washington works.’ Because that’s the problem. That’s what’s upsetting people. We want people that have come from where we’ve been. Our homes, our communities, our families. And understand how to gather people together, create unity, empathize, talk, and get some kind of consensus of what that means in Washington. And that’s why I think I’m a better candidate than Max—is because of this vast experience. And that I am not part of Washington. That we’re going to go in there and I’m going to represent the people. Not because I have experience in Washington and how they do things, because I have experience with people.
Taylor Popielarz: The state of the campaign right now—I’ve looked up the latest financial reports that are available. Both you and Max have loaned your campaigns money. He’s loaned far more than you, $650,000—
Matthew Diemer: Yes, he has far more than me.
Taylor Popielarz: You’ve loaned your campaign about $40,000. He’s also raised significantly more money than you. Last I checked, it was around $113,000. When people look at that, and they see the endorsements he has, the political connections he’s forged, and they compare all of that to you, why should they take your candidacy as seriously?
Matthew Diemer: You know, that’s a very good question. And so, I want to just throw this back to you and maybe just ask the question to the people: Do you think that a serious candidate or somebody that actually can do the job is someone who raises money? That has the connections? I mean, he worked in the Trump White House for four years. He has access to a billionaire that endorsed his campaign. He was the first person that Trump endorsed. Trump came out of, I guess, pseudo retirement, to hold a rally in Lorain County. He was the first person that he was endorsing. So, my question is, because you have these rich connections—Max is from a wealthy family—and you have access to money, does that make you the better candidate? And I’m going to have to say no. You know what I have to do? Is I have to one, wake up every morning, and figure out how to ask people for money. And I go to every individual and ask them for $10 or $20 or $25. I have to go out there and talk to everybody I can. I drive my car. You know, it’s an hour and a half from the north to the south of the district. And that’s the work we’re putting in. We’re physically knocking on our own doors. And when we are looking at our finances at the end of the day, the month, the quarter, we’re figuring out how to be fiscally and financially responsible in this campaign so that every dollar counts. And so, while Max might raise $2 million and throw a million dollars at advertising or consultants, and just throw that money away, we are being creative. And we’re figuring out—hey, if you give me 25 bucks, you absolutely know that that 25 bucks is going to go into a flier, a door hanger, a yard sign or something that’s going to make this campaign work. Salaries. So that’s what we’re doing.
Taylor Popielarz: As you alluded to, the district is pretty vast in terms of different areas, geography, the types of jobs people are pursuing. I’m curious, having spent some time in the rural part of the district earlier this week, what your pitch is to a farmer—you mentioned that at one point, you lived in a rural area—but if on paper, they say, OK, a podcaster who lives along Lake Erie. How the heck could he know how to represent me? What’s your case?
Matthew Diemer: I want to take that back. You said podcaster. I’m going to say small business owner. And that’s what farmers are, they’re small business owners or business owners. And not only from my second small business, this is this one. My first small business I grew, and I actually sold that brand. And I also was in executive management in hospitality for many years. Maybe up to 200 employees, with people from 40 different countries, millions of dollars a year in revenue. And we had to, I had to, make sure that they were all acting and not acting, but working toward the same mutual goal. And so, when you’re a farmer or a small business owner, no matter what your business is, they understand that there are sacrifices made, that you have to have revenue, that you care a hell of a lot for your employees, no matter if they’re washing dishes or if they’re working on your farm. And you need somebody that empathizes with what they’re going through as small business owners. So, when you say podcaster, they’re like, oh yeah, that’s not relatable. But I’m a small business owner. I also know about, hey, sometimes I don’t make it. And the money that I have to pay my employees would come out of my bank account, my pocket. I’m going to go in the red just because they have to live, they have to eat. And it’s the same thing when you have employees and you’re working for a bigger company, is that you’re like, hey, you have to make sure that everybody not only is doing the job, but you care about them, you know about their family, their friends, their wives, their spouses, their kids. And you want to make sure that they’re doing the best they can too. So, a farmer and a small business owner I think have a lot more in common. We understand what it takes to make this work. It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice.
Taylor Popielarz: I’ve read many of your fundraising emails that you send out. I’ve gone through your campaign website. I’ve seen some of the videos you’ve posted on social media. You’ve been very critical of your opponent’s involvement in the January 6 Capitol attack.
Matthew Diemer: Yes.
Taylor Popielarz:—or I guess the lead up to it. He wasn’t at the Capitol that day. But why do you feel that—
Matthew Diemer: But he was in the car with ex-President Trump.
Taylor Popielarz: Why do you feel that matters to bring that up in the context of this race?
Matthew Diemer: After Jan. 6, we saw that there was two camps. And the majority of the camp were people that said, OK, something really bad happened and now we’re going to come out and speak out about it. We’re going to step away, we’re going to resign. Then there are the few people that doubled down, not only on the ‘Big Lie,’ but doubled down on Donald Trump, that loyalty to Donald Trump, and perpetuated not only the ‘Big Lie’ but that this is OK. And he’s one of those people. He didn’t think there’s anything wrong with it. He didn’t separate ties with Donald Trump. He didn’t say that, ‘Oh, I denounce or I think that Joe Biden is a legitimate president.’ And so, every step of the way, he thinks that that was normal. It was not normal. And if that person thinks that that is normal, is now the representative for Ohio’s 7th District, and is now in the position of perpetuating our democracy and making sure that democracy stands, then we are in trouble. So, in my opinion, this race is a referendum on, is Jan. 6 no big deal? Or is Jan. 6 a thing that we have to take very seriously as a country, as a state, as a district and make sure that that doesn’t happen again.
Taylor Popielarz: Lastly, you’re running as a Democrat. Right now, Democrats control both chambers of Congress. They have a Democrat in the White House. How do you feel President Biden has been doing? How do you feel Democratic congressional leadership has been doing?
Matthew Diemer: I think President Biden has had a couple of wins in the past couple of weeks and months. I think that we have a—I want to call it a silent majority. And a silent majority is the people in the middle. There are the extreme left and the extreme right. I think Max Miller and the Trump Republicans are the extreme right. But in the middle, there are about 60% to 70% of the people that just want solutions. And I think that whatever we’re doing in Washington, we need to continue to make those solutions and find consensus. Some of the wins that Joe Biden or President Biden is doing is making consensus. I know there’s suggestions out there from the moderate Republicans that are also consensus, that are good solutions as well. I don’t want to play party politics. I want to make sure that we’re talking to people. I am running as a Democrat, but if we’re not so focused and listening to all sides and all solutions, then we’re not going to actually make this better. Stop this division. And so that’s where I’m going for.
Taylor Popielarz: Alright. We covered a lot. Thanks so much.
Matthew Diemer: Thank you, sir.
