Athens Politics Nerd

Former second grade teacher Lillie Brooks and former member of the Board of Elections and current science teacher Adam Shirley are both running for School Board in District 7 in Athens, Georgia. Current Board of Education member LaKeisha Gantt is running for mayor, so there’s no incumbent. 0:00 - Intro0:33 - Meet Lillie Brooks3:56 - Meet Adam Shirley9:38 - Adam's assessment of the school syste...

Insurance agent Tracy Smith and lawyer Barry Irwin are both challenging incumbent ACC Commissioner Ovita Thornton in District 9 in Athens, Georgia. APN interviewed all three candidates and edited them together for this week’s podcast. 0:00 - Intro0:28 - Meet Barry Irwin2:14 - Meet Tracy Smith5:23 - Meet Ovita Thornton10:36 - Tracy's experience12:42 - Barry's experience & top priorities...

Pastor Sharon Miller, Commissioner Dexter Fisher, community advocate Mara Zúñiga and ACC Board of Education members Tim Denson and LaKeisha Gantt are all running to be the next mayor of Athens-Clarke County in 2026. 0:30 - Meet Tim Denson 1:40 - Meet Mara Zúñiga 3:00 - Meet Sharon Miller 4:18 - Meet LaKeisha Gantt 5:35 - Meet Dexter Fisher 6:49 - What is your most important issue? 13:13 - How will...

Housing advocate Bennie Coleman and lawyer Ed Tolley are both running to be the next ACC Commissioner from District 7. Commissioner John Culpepper is not running for re-election, so there’s no incumbent. 0:00 – Intro 0:29 – Meet Ed Tolley 2:44 – Meet Bennie Coleman 3:59 – Bennie’s housing plan 11:04 – Ed’s top priorities 16:45 – Ed’s opinion of the current commission 21:18 – Bennie’s opinion of th...

Community advocate Kimberly Bennett, vice chair of the ACC Hearings Board Rick Stanziale, financial advisor Zander Mason and chaplain Craig Topple are all running to be the next ACC Commissioner in District 5. Commissioner Dexter Fisher decided to vacate this seat to run for mayor, so there's no incumbent. 0:00 - Intro 0:45 - Meet Craig Topple 4:48 - Meet Kimberly Bennett 8:36 - Meet Zander Ma...

Social services case manager Tammie Foote is challenging Commissioner Tiffany Taylor to represent east Athens on the Athens-Clarke County Commission. 0:00 - Intro 0:25 - Meet Tammie Foote 2:50 - Tammie's priorities 6:15 - Tiffany Taylor's accomplishments 10:31 - Tiffany on housing 15:49 - Tammie on the Triangle Plaza community garden 20:30 - Why Tiffany voted for the community garden 24:49...

Handyman Terry Johnson is challenging incumbent Commissioner Patrick Davenport for the privilege of representing the southeast side on the Athens-Clarke County Commission.

Democrat Eric Gisler is running to become the next state representative for district 121. His Republican opponent is Mack “Dutch” Guest IV. APN sat down with Gisler for an interview on November 3. Guest did not respond to repeated interview requests, which is why this video only includes a conversation with Gisler. The election is coming up on December 9.

Deborah Gonzalez and Kalki Yalamanchili are both running to be the next District Attorney of the Western Circuit of Georgia, which includes both Athens-Clarke and Oconee County. 1:08 – Deborah’s first term 3:59 – Meet Kalki Yalamanchili 8:23 – Deborah’s staffing challenges 14:06 – Deborah’s “abysmal” conviction rate 25:23 – Deborah’s Marsy’s Law violations 31:32 – Deborah’s campaign promises 35:42...

Kirrena Gallagher is running for Board of Education in District 2 in Athens, Georgia. Her opponents are Claudia Butts (the incumbent) and Mary Bagby. The election is on May 21, 2024.

Michael Eberhart and William Gaulden are running in the Democratic primary to be the next coroner of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. The election is on May 21.

Incumbent Commissioner Melissa Link is being challenged this year by Jason Jacobs, a downtown business owner and former minor league catcher for the Mets. This election will take place on May 21, 2024.

Rashe Malcolm, owner of Rashe's Cuisine, is running for ACC Commission in District 6 in Athens, Georgia. The election is on May 21, 2024.

ACC Commissioner Carol Myers is running for re-election against Sidney Waters, better known as Mama Sid. APN sat down with Myers on March 29, 2024. The election will take place on May 21.

Sheriff John Q Williams is running for re-election in Athens, Georgia in 2024. On May 21, he'll face off against Tommy Dorsey in the Democratic primary, and the winner will be Athens' Sheriff for the next four years.

Jessica Fore and Lexy Doherty are running for US Congress (GA-10) in the Democratic primary taking place on May 21, 2024. The winner will face off against Republican Mike Collins in November.

Athens-Clarke County is holding a special election on November 7, 2023 to determine the next ACC Clerk of Courts. APN interviewed Elisa Zarate, who is running for that position against Andrew Griffeth.

Blake Aued from Flagpole and Commissioner Jesse Houle join APN to talk about Governor Brian Kemp's drift to the middle, the medical contract at the ACC jail, the Mall redevelopment project and Jesse's budget priorities this year. 0:30 - Governor Brian Kemp, drifting to the middle? 2:40 - What can we expect from the state legislature this year? 5:00 - Problems with jail healthcare 8:08 - The Mall r...

A new commission takes their seats and immediately has a split vote for mayor pro tem! What's up with that? Blake Aued from Flagpole comes on the show to talk about the latest developments on the ACC Mayor and Commission and what we can expect going forward.

I'm tired of UGA throwing its weight around.  This one is about why UGA hates a particular story I wrote recently and why they’re wrong.   Here's the story they have an issue with: https://athenspoliticsnerd.com/mitchell-street-development-is-back/ The photo of the UGA Arch in the thumbnail of this video was taken by  user JR P on Flickr.com and is used under a Creative Commons lice...

Occupy Wall Street started in September, 2011 and soon after solidarity encampments sprung up all over the country. One of those solidarity groups, Occupy Athens GA, had a huge impact on local politics that still endures today. I talked with Commissioner Tim Denson about why he got involved in Occupy, why he ran for mayor and about his thoughts on the legacy of the progressive advocacy group Athen...

ACC Commissioners debated lowered quorum at their last meeting, and things got spicy. They also begun the process of creating a long-term plan to address homelessness and discussed how to spend transit dollars most effectively. 0:32 - Homelessness 5:07 - Transit funding 8:12 - The Great QUORUM Debate 15:33 - Two withdrawn zoning requests

Prosperity Capital Partners is forcing out low-income tenants in Athens, the University System of Georgia blocks the Linnentown mosaic and the public has a lot to say about cannabis decriminalization, abortion and a pilot project for Prince Avenue at the last mayor and commission meeting. 0:40 - Prosperity Capital Partners raises the rent 2:22 - Linnentown mosaic blocked 4:40 - Public comment on c...

Jeff Auerbach, candidate for Georgia State House in District 121, talked with me about his feelings on abortion and about the smaller things we can do in the state legislature that can greatly improve our lives. 1:03 - What do you do when you're not running for office? 1:40 - Why are you running? 3:32 - What are your goals in the legislature, if elected? 6:56 - What are you feelings about abo...

Tim Denson is running for the Athens-Clarke County Board of Education in District 5 in 2022. I interviewed him about restorative justice, his  plans for the district and about how well our schools are doing at educating our kids.   0:31 - Why are you running for school board? 1:28 - How are our schools doing at educating our kids? 4:12 - Should we be giving more power back to the teacher...