As part of its nonpartisan voter education and empowerment efforts, the local tenant advocacy group United Athens County Tenants has conducted our second candidate questionnaire to date on local housing issues – this time for the 2025 contested Democratic primary races for the first ward and at-large seats on Athens City Council. The full candidate responses are available online.
The current questionnaire focuses on rental housing safety and code enforcement, tenant protection policies, housing affordability, and homelessness. We also asked each candidate whether they are currently an owner of only their residence, a landlord, or a renter – and where, and for how many years, they have rented.
In 2021, UACT issued a similar questionnaire to the 5 candidates competing in that year’s general election for the 3 at-large seats on Athens City Council. That year we received responses from 4 of the 5 candidates. The only candidate who did not respond to our 2021 questionnaire was Sarah Grace, then an incumbent council member and chair of the city’s Affordable Housing Commission. Responses to that questionnaire were covered in an Athens Messenger news article and still appear on UACT’s website.
UACT submitted its 2025 Athens Democratic primary questionnaire on March 17 to first ward Athens City Council candidates Megan Almeida (newcomer), Andrew Guidarelli (newcomer) and Anthony Jacobs (newcomer); and to at-large Athens City Council candidates Beth Clodfelter (incumbent), Ari Faber (newcomer), Paul Isherwood (newcomer), and Jessica Thomas (incumbent).
Of the 6 total current candidates who received UACT’s current questionnaire, 3 responded and 3 did not respond. Respondents include 1 incumbent and 2 newcomers, while non-respondents also include 1 incumbent and 2 newcomers.
Almeida, Isherwood, and Thomas all provided responses by the original April 1 deadline.
Guidarelli informed us on March 28 that he had withdrawn from the race and did not submit a response. His withdrawal was confirmed at a March 31 candidate forum held by the League of Women Voters of Athens County. In an email to the Athens County Independent, Guidarelli, currently a renter, stated, “Due to the lack of ability to find housing in the first ward, I have withdrawn from the race for council.” (Ward representatives are required to reside in their wards, while at-large representatives may reside anywhere in the city.)
On April 3 we offered non-respondent candidates Clodfelter, Faber and Jacobs a second chance to respond. In our email to them, we emphasized the following.
“Please keep in mind that UACT is a nonpartisan tenant advocacy group. We have not endorsed any candidates in past races, and we will not make any endorsements in these primary races. We always strive to work with whomever is elected to council in order to pass housing policy that better protects the wellbeing of the roughly 80% of off-campus city residents who live in rental housing. However, as part of our tenant empowerment efforts, we also believe that city residents deserve to know where each of you stands on key housing issues before casting their votes in the May 6 primary. Therefore, we urge you to participate in UACT’s nonpartisan voter education effort by submitting your responses by 11:59 PM this Saturday, April 5.”
Unfortunately, none of these 3 candidates have submitted responses. Faber notified us of a death in his family during the response window and apologized for his lack of a response. We have not received any communication from Clodfelter or Jacobs in response to either our March 17 or April 3 requests.
UACT sincerely thanks candidates Almeida, Isherwood and Thomas for their openness and responsiveness in participating in UACT’s nonpartisan voter education and empowerment work.
We continue to welcome responses from Clodfelter, Faber and Jacobs any time before the May 6 primary election. Should we receive any such responses, we will add them to UACT’s website and social media. In the meantime, we encourage city residents to learn what they can about the non-respondent candidates’ positions from press interviews and their participation in forums held by the League of Women Voters of Athens County – videos of which are available at https://www.athensleagueofwomenvoters.org
