Atlanta’s five City Council at-large Post 3 candidates sat down to talk policies and answer questions at the Oct. 3 Center for Civic Innovation Candidate Forum ahead of November’s special election.
The seat opened up in March 2024 when sitting council member Keisha Waites had to step down in order to run for the Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts. Now, five candidates are vying for the at-large and nonpartisan seat that will span across the entire city.
Anyone in the city will be able to vote for the seat, too. The Center for Civic innovation, a research and development lab focused on citywide social issues hosted the panel as part of #VoteATL — a coalition of organizations aimed at engaging people in local elections. The center’s founder and Executive Director Rohit Malhotra moderated the two hour panel before opening to questions from the crowd.
“It’s super easy to be engaged in the presidential races or to be engaged in the vice presidential debate,” Maholtra said. “But what makes me feel hopeful is when we have an opportunity to show up in Atlanta.”
Five candidates qualified for the Nov. 5 special election earlier this year: Nicole Evans Jones, Devin Barrington-Ward, Duvwon Robinson, Amber Connor, Eshé Collins. Malhotra said it’s the first local election forum where all of the candidates participated.
Maholtra ran the forum somewhat differently than typical candidate debate formats. Rather than emphasizing big ideas and campaign slogans, he nailed down the details of each candidate’s governance plans and city knowledge.
“The city has prioritized a lot of big ideas, things like World Cups and Super Bowls, and we use elections to promise really big things to communities,” Malhotra said. “But sometimes we minimize that the role of the City Council is often to pay attention to the day-to-day, minute and sometimes invisible things that are equally if not more important than those one time big things.”
He opened by lightly quizzing the candidates on topics like the number of Neighborhood Planning Units, the number of Atlanta City Council members, the Area Median Income and the general operating fund for the city. The results were mixed — all candidates guessed the number of NPUs incorrectly, and about half got the Area Median Income correct.
Malhotra also asked the candidates, via whiteboard, to write down how they would vote on major issues like increasing and decreasing funding to certain elements in the budget. He also had the candidates name what they would fund with a $10 million budget surplus and who their top election funders were.
When asked the new priority each candidate would add to the city, the answers varied across the different political focuses of the panelists. Amber Connor said she would prioritize “making sure the Georgia Department of Transportation is not taking money” they shouldn’t have, while Duvwon Robinson prioritized the residents’ right to vote on the referendum of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
Meanwhile, Nicole “Nikki” Evans Jones said she would tax individuals who commute into the city and “ruin the roads,” Devin Barrington-Ward said he would focus on rent control and legalizing marijuana, and Eshé Collins would revise the educational funding formula.
Malhotra also had each candidate take a “failure bow” in front of the crowd, stating their biggest career mistakes so far. Then, he moved onto asking each person’s views on hot button issues, all while using the white boards.
He asked how each person would have voted if they were on the Atlanta City Council when the council authorized the mayor to lease 85 acres to the Atlanta Police Foundation for up to 50 years at $10 a year.
Barrington-Ward, Collins and Robinson said no, while Connor and Evans Jones said yes.
The questions extended into Beltline Rail, blight and the Atlanta City Detention Center. All candidates voted in favor of extending the pre-arrest diversion nonprofit PAD’s contract, which is currently being held by the city.
After quizzing candidates, Malhotra opened the floor to questions from the public. Micah McClure, the Senior Campaign Lead for the Association of Flight Attendants, gauged the panel’s stance on unions.
“Should corporations remain neutral when workers decide to organize?” McClure asked the lineup.
The group voted yes all around and unanimously agreed that companies with city contracts should also sign neutrality agreements. They also agreed that all workers should be paid at industry standards and city employees should receive pay raises.
After two hours of fielding questions, Malhotra opened the floor to each candidate’s closing statements.
Amber Connor promised authenticity and servitude. “You’re there to serve, you’re not there to have servants underneath you.”
Eshé Collins promoted somebody who can handle the big ideas and daily tasks. “You need a leader with experience.”
Devin Barrington-Ward pointed to the possibility of being the first Black LGBTQ+ man on council and his dedication to community organizing. “Atlanta gives me purpose,” he said. “We need people not just from the city but who love the city.”
Evan Jones said she’s running to put neighborhoods first. “You don’t change communities by proposing bid ideas; I will do the same work that I’ve done for the entire city if you elect me the next councilperson.”
Duvwon Robinson said he has a proven track record of advocacy in a “clique-ish” city. “I dance only if I like the music, and you should vote for someone you can trust.”
At the end of the night, Malhotra reminded the crowd that the election is on Nov. 5 and early voting starts Oct. 15, and if the race ends in a runoff the final round of voting is Dec. 3. It’s the first council race to coincide with a presidential election. Voter registration ends Oct. 7 for both races.
No matter who wins, though, the elected official will only hold office until next year. Then the seat will be up for election again.
The full livestream of the candidate forum is available on YouTube, and the Center for Civic Innovation has policy pages for each candidate on their website.
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