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

Barrington faces Democratic nominee Don Leonard and Republican incumbent Mike Carey. Samuel Ronan is running as a write-in candidate.

Asked why he is seeking office, Barrington said in our candidate 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."

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

Party leadership and convention service: "Libertarian Party of Ohio Central Committee Libertarian Party National Platform Committee, 2026 Delegate to Libertarian National Convention, 2024 and 2026"

On the issues

Top priority: Asked to name the single most important issue Congress should address, Barrington said in our questionnaire: "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. Plurality-winner single-member districts produce a two-party system, with no representation for options outside it, and a strong incentive to gerrymander the districts. … 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 would solve this: gerrymandering would be impossible, the spoiler effect would be gone, and there would be many choices on the ballot and many ideas represented in Congress."

Affordability and cost of living: Barrington said in our questionnaire: "End wars and tariffs. Encourage states to deregulate land use, housing construction, and childcare. Housing is expensive because it's illegal to build/use it where it's needed. Stop subsidizing ethanol corn: it uses farmland which could be for food crops, and today's solar panels have a much better ROI. … Reform or eliminate the student loan program to stop giving colleges no incentive to control costs."

Federal spending, taxes and debt: Barrington said in our questionnaire: "The significant components of the deficit are military spending, Medicare/aid, and Social Security. … Medicare coverage of services which do not have a good return in quality-adjusted life years should be cut. … Privatize Social Security. Taxes should incide on negative externalities and rent seeking, and be minimal on productive activity (working, running businesses, and investing in them)."

National security: Barrington said in our questionnaire: "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. … The purpose of the military should be solely to protect Americans on American soil from foreign attack."

Energy and the environment: Barrington said in our questionnaire: "Pollution is aggression. Greenhouse gas emissions which cause harmful climate change are a textbook negative externality. A Pigouvian tax is called for: American fossil fuel companies would be made to pay for their pollution. … 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."