PIQUA — The Democratic parties of Miami and Darke counties have appointed a Piqua resident to run as the Democratic write-in candidate for the 80th District Ohio House of Representatives seat during the November general election.

D.J. Byrnes of Piqua will be replacing Scott Zimmerman of Troy, who had previously filed to run as a Democratic write-in candidate for the seat.

Zimmerman recently rescinded his candidacy for Ohio House 80th District state representative, saying in a letter to the Miami County Board of Elections, “I will not be able to run a campaign for HD 80 at this time.”

Byrnes will be running against Republican candidate Jena Powell of Arcanum.

The 80th District includes all of Miami County and part of Darke County. It is currently represented by Rep. Stephen Huffman, who is leaving his seat to run for the 5th District State Senate seat.

Byrnes recently submitted the following candidate questionnaire about his candidacy:

Name: D.J. Byrnes

Family information: Long-term girlfriend and three majestic cats.

Occupation: Senior editor at Eleven Warriors

Position Sought: Ohio House 80th District

Previous Political Experience: Piqua Parks Board, Piqua Government Academy Graduate, Piqua 3-A precinct captain, Miami County Democratic Party secretary, and NRA member.

Qualifications: I pay taxes and am tired of watching the corporate clown cartel in Columbus treating western Ohio as a personal piggybank.

Reason for Seeking Office: The days of feckless, corporate cutouts ripping off rural Ohioans is at an end. I seek to smash the stale-minded plunderbund starving our communities and swing the pendulum of justice back in favor of working families.

Goals for office if elected: Medicare for all. Guaranteed living wages. Reliable rural internet. Promotion of unions. Immediate legalization of sports gambling and recreational cannabis and full funding of public schools, first responders, and roads.

What do you see as the greatest need to be addressed in the position you seek? We must remove profit and special interests from our antiquated health care system. If it’s good enough for two-bit politicians that fear-monger against it, it’s good enough for the U.S.