Pepper Pike City Council member Jill Miller Zimon announced online Monday night that she’ll run to represent Ohio House District 12.
After redistricting in 2011, the district includes part of Cleveland as well as suburbs Warrensville Heights, Pepper Pike, Maple Heights, Orange, Bedford and several others.
Zimon has advocated for communities in the region to cooperate, sharing services and information. She worked at the Civic Commons, a social networking site that promotes discussion and action around civic issues in Northeast Ohio.
Just after Zimon left the organization, the Civic Commons announced it was joining ideastream.
Zimon is running as a Democrat, and says Democratic lawmakers have much to gain by defending core values at the Statehouse -- even if they remain the minority party in a legislature dominated by Republicans.
“I think that the dialogue and the contributions and the ideas that the minority [party brings] have to and should have more of an effect than they currently do on what the majority shapes and the majority approves," she said.
The current representative for the district, John Barnes, also a Democrat, has not said definitively whether or not he’ll seek another term.
But he passed along a statement through a spokesman, saying, “I am proud of my 94 percent Democratic voting record and leadership, which has contributed significantly to bring people together to work together to get it done for the citizens of the 12th House District and Ohio.”
The primary election is scheduled for May 2014.
