Undefined variable: request in sub method

When I try to get all the records that have a relation to the category table, where the category_definition_id is the search input, I cannot access the $request->category variable in the sub method. It is in Laravel 5.5. Any ideas?

public function jobopenings(Request $request)
{
  $category_definitions = Category_definition::all();
  $skill_definitions = Skill_definition::all();

  $ads = new Ad;

  // Search for a user based on their name.
  if ($request->has('category')) {

    $ads = $ads->whereHas('categories', function($query){
        $query->where('category_definition_id', $request->category);
      });
  }

  $ads = $ads->where('type','1')->orderBy('created_at','desc')->paginate(15);

    return View::make('jobs')
    ->with('ads', $ads)
    ->with('category_definitions',$category_definitions)
    ->with('skill_definitions', $skill_definitions)
    ->with('ad_type','1');
}

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