Ohio Senate race: Sherrod Brown accused of 'unwanted' advance against woman in '80s. Brown threatens legal action against Jim Renacci.

Scott Wartman | Cincinnati Enquirer

Show Caption Hide Caption Renacci claims new abuse allegations against Brown Jim Renacci met with the Enquirer editorial board on October 17.

Earlier this week, Republican Senate candidate and Congressman Jim Renacci revealed to The Enquirer "multiple women" contacted him with allegations they were abused by his Democratic opponent and veteran U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Renacci wouldn't reveal who they were. Late Thursday night, an attorney released a statement on behalf of one of the women.

In the statement, Canton, Ohio area attorney Laura Mills described a sexual encounter her client had with Brown in the late 1980s. Brown was Ohio's Secretary of State at the time and the unnamed woman had met Brown in the course of her work.

According to Mills, Brown pushed her client up against a wall.

"She described an unexpected, uninvited, unwanted, and sudden advance, roughly pushing her up against a wall," Mills said in the statement. "It did stop after she expressed dismay and very firmly pulled away, explaining that was not her style nor why she was there. He then said he remembered what she had on the day they had met some time earlier and that he had been attracted to her."

Mills, who has served as Renacci's lawyer and has donated to his campaigns, said her client wants to remain anonymous. She was able to "defuse the situation" but was shaken up by it, Mills said in the statement. Mills did not return calls to The Enquirer.

Brown's campaign on Thursday sent a cease and desist letter to Renacci, demanding he stop "false and libelous statements."

"At the very least you were acting with reckless disregard to the truth, as you must have been aware that the statements you were making had no basis in fact," Brown's attorney Marc Erik Elias wrote in the email.

Brown's campaign spokesman, Preston Maddock, in a statement, pointed out Mills is a former business partner of Renacci. The campaign plans on pursuing "all legal means" against Renacci.

"Pure and simple, this is character assassination by a failed and desperate candidate who every day reaches new low," Maddock said.

Renacci revealed the possible existence of multiple accusers against Brown at a time in the campaign where he's trailing in many polls by double-digits. For months, Renacci has hammered Brown on a three-decade-old domestic abuse allegation and restraining order filed against him by his ex-wife in 1986 amid a contentious divorce.

Brown's ex-wife, Larke Recchie, has strongly condemned Renacci's attacks on Brown and has supported Brown's re-election efforts.

Renacci told The Enquirer Wednesday the alleged abuse of the other women happened after his divorce. When they approached him, he referred them to Mills, an attorney who specializes in domestic abuse cases.

Mills said her client released the statement because of the news coverage generated by Renacci's comments. After the #MeToo movement began in the past year, she told a friend about the experience. It was this friend that contacted Renacci, Mills said.

"This was months ago, shortly after the MeToo movement began, and the reason she told her friend was to explain why she believed many of the women, as something unwanted had happened to her with a prominent politician," Mills said in the statement. "She had no intention of coming forward and did not know that the friend would later contact Jim Renacci with it. When she did, he referred her to discuss the experience with me."

His campaign called the allegations from Renacci "desperate." Brown, in an interview with the Dayton Daily News on Thursday, denied the allegations.

"It's absolutely untrue," Brown told the Dayton Daily News. "...Renacci should be ashamed of this. He's clearly a desperate candidate just doing whatever he can do to upend everything. There's no truth to those."

Brown and Renacci will meet face-to-face Saturday night in Columbus for their second debate.

Read the full statement from attorney Laura Mills: