Brennan Barrington, a Libertarian, is running for U.S. House of Representatives in Ohio's 15th Congressional District in the Nov. 3 general election.

Asked why he is running, Barrington said in our questionnaire: "The major parties have created the numerous crises we face today: an unsustainable debt and deficit, Social Security shortage, Middle Eastern quagmires, housing shortages, exploding education costs, and a corrupt President and Congress. They have demonstrated no ability to provide solutions. Someone had to step up and offer another choice."

Three other candidates are running. They are Don Leonard (Democratic), Mike Carey (Republican) and Samuel Ronan (No Party Preference).

Candidate information

Party: "Libertarian"

Education: "Bachelor of Science with Research Distinction, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Ohio State University; minor in public policy"

Family in politics or government: "No."

Experience and public service

Barrington said in our questionnaire that his previous and current offices include: "Libertarian Party of Ohio Central Committee … Libertarian Party National Platform Committee, 2026 … Delegate to Libertarian National Convention, 2024 and 2026"

On the issues

Barrington answered the Hilliard Herald's candidate questionnaire on several policy topics.

Top priority: Asked what single issue Congress should address, Barrington said: "Electoral reform. This is a 'meta-issue': our ability to address all of the other issues is affected by it, which is why I consider it so important." He called for "proportional representation on the Swiss model (proportional within each state), expanding the House to match population increase since 1929, and ranked choice voting for Senators." He said "the two-party system has failed; this is how we can replace it with something better."

Affordability and cost of living: Barrington said Congress should "end wars and tariffs" and "encourage states to deregulate land use, housing construction, and childcare." He added: "Housing is expensive because it's illegal to build/use it where it's needed." He also called for eliminating regulations that block direct-to-consumer food sales and said Congress should "reform or eliminate the student loan program to stop giving colleges no incentive to control costs."

Federal spending and taxes: Barrington said: "The significant components of the deficit are military spending, Medicare/aid, and Social Security." He called for cutting Medicare coverage of services that "do not have a good return in quality-adjusted life years" and said Congress should "privatize Social Security." On taxes, he said Congress should be "taxing land appreciation profits instead of regular capital gains" to "deter extractive speculation, revitalize declining areas, and let markets provide cheaper housing."

National security: Barrington said: "We should end the Iran war and withdraw from the region. American intervention in the Middle East has caused far more harm than it could possibly have prevented, and wasted trillions of taxpayer dollars." He said "the purpose of the military should be solely to protect Americans on American soil from foreign attack" and called for eliminating the Department of Homeland Security.

Healthcare: Barrington said Congress should "deregulate everything," adding: "Any dig down into a problem with our health care system finds a anti-competitive, perversely incentivizing, adversely selecting, incoherent, cost-ineffective, and/or just plain stupid regulation at the bottom."

Environment and energy: Barrington called for a tax on fossil fuel companies, saying: "Greenhouse gas emissions which cause harmful climate change are a textbook negative externality." He said a large portion of the revenue would be refunded "as a flat payment to every adult American citizen (a citizen dividend), to prevent the tax from being regressive."

Early voting in Franklin County began Tuesday, Oct. 6.