Meet the candidates for the upcoming state house election

This December, eligible Cedar students will have the opportunity to vote for their state house representative. Georgia State House District 121, which encompasses much of East Athens and Oconee County, is currently unrepresented after Marcus Weidower, who served in the role since 2023, resigned in October. A special election has been scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 9. 

Early voting is already underway across the district, and will end on Dec. 5. To check whether you are eligible to vote in this election, look on Georgia’s My Voter page. For early and election day voting locations and hours, consult the ACC Elections Office website. 

Meet the Candidates

Both Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest IV and Democrat Eric Gisler are on the ballot to become the house state representative for House District 121. Guest has lived in Watkinsville since 1998, and has two children. He owns LAD Truck Lines, a logistics and distribution company based in Watkinsville. He is also involved in the community, previously serving as the president of the Oconee County Rotary Club and Athens Touchdown Club. 

“It’s been a joy to help grow the business alongside my father, and just be a part of the community,” Guest said.

This is Guest’s first time running for political office. While he has never served in an elected office, he has been involved in politics through lobbying. He has served on the executive boards of both the state and national lobby for trucking. He has received support from most Republican figures around the state, including Governor Brian Kemp, who called Guest “a proven, conservative businessman.”

“I sit on the executive board for the Georgia Trucking Association. I was also on the board for some time at the American Trucking Association. They’re based out of Washington, DC, so I spent a lot of time up there. That’s more of a DC lobby, so it’s pretty tough up there,” Guest said.

Guest believes that important qualities he brings to the position are an openness to new information and relationships with his constituents. He also says that a willingness to rely on experts and those around you is crucial, and that he will strive to do so if elected. 

“I think it’s important to know who to talk to, and by being in the community for so long I have the right relationships with the right people to call when questions and problems arise. I also know who at the state level to call to work on issues and things that will arise,” Guest said.

His biggest challenge in this election is getting voters to know who he is and what he stands for. With the election being unexpected and only being seven weeks between Wiedower’s resignation and election day, Guest and his campaign have struggled to get the word out. Guest’s signature strategy has been offering his phone number to any constituent with questions.

“Obviously, it’s been a lot of phone calls, a lot of text messages and a lot of door to door campaigning. We’ve done some events here and there. We try to go out and be seen in the community and just make sure that people know they can talk to me and get a hold of me. I got my cell number everywhere. I’ve been meeting a lot of nice folks. They’ve been calling and texting me and telling me their opinions,” Guest said.

While Guest has been very focused on the election, he does not plan to continue with this position for long after this election, and views this as a small portion of his life. 

“I’m not a career politician. This is not something I intend on doing for a long period of time, maybe just the next four to five years of my life,” Guest said.

Despite his intention of serving a short political career, Guest does not believe his ability to serve will be impacted.

“I don’t think it’ll impact my ability to make any changes. In my leadership position at work, and through those different associations, I’ve gotten to learn how to bring people together and sell my message,” Guest said.

Gisler previously ran for the seat in 2024, but lost to Weidower. He is originally from Atlanta, but moved to Athens to finish his college degree at the University of Georgia. He has lived in the Athens area for 22 years and has two children. He is the owner of the Olive Basket, an oil and vinegar store in Watkinsville.

Beyond his previous experience running for office in 2024, Gisler has also been involved with political lobbying. He is the co-founder of a political action committee (PAC) devoted to flipping the Georgia House of Representatives to Democratic control before the next state redistricting in 2030.

“There is opportunity in the House of Representatives. 2030 is when redistricting happens, so we want Democrats to control the Georgia State House of Representatives in 2030. When that redistricting process happens, we want to have a seat at the table where the lines are drawn,” Gisler said.

As a small business owner and UGA degree holder, Gisler believes his experience makes him a good candidate. He holds a bachelor’s degree in science from UGA and has worked in information technology his whole career, giving him insight into data-based decision making and analysis skills. He also thinks his experience in both starting his own business and working in support roles for larger companies has taught him about management.

“I have a science background which teaches you to look at data and interpret and analyze what’s going on and make decisions based on data. As a legislator, I think it’s a good thing. It’s very similar in IT and technology. I’ve been working for larger businesses but also running my own small business. You have to make decisions based on objective facts as much as possible, which I think is something that we’re missing a lot in politics these days,” Gisler said.

While the short election cycle can be challenging, Gisler believes it gives him an advantage. Since he had already run for the position, Gisler has an established base and campaign.

“In a lot of ways, it’s been better. Because I had already declared for the seat for next year, I was already filed with the state of Georgia. As far as campaign finance stuff, I’d already set up to collect donations and had an online bank account,” Gisler said. “I already had all that done, so when Representative Wiedower stepped down, I issued a press release saying ‘I’m in,’ on the same day.”

Similar to Guest, Gisler has also struggled to get his voters aware and interested in the election. He has used a variety of strategies, including online messages, physical mailers and doorknocking campaigns. He hopes that the recent elections will inspire Democratic voters to vote again. In the election for Public Service Commission, two Democrats were elected to non-federal state level positions for the first time since 2006.

“It’s just getting them aware since it’s an odd election time. The most effective method is knocking on doors. We’ve been doing at least two canvassing events every weekend since this happened, trying to knock on doors and tell people who just voted for the Public Service Commission that ‘Hey, there’s one more opportunity to vote before you forget about politics for a while,’” Gisler said.

Proposed Policy

The candidates have differed greatly in their policy proposals, but they still have some common ties. Both candidates have expressed a need for addressing the affordability crisis, with varying proposed solutions.

Guest has set affordability and taxation at the top of his political to-do list. If elected, he plans to work with major political figures such as Governor Brian Kemp and State House Representative and US House Candidate Houston Gaines to address the collection of state tax.

“There’s obviously some hot button topics right now. State income and property tax is one, and there’s an overall affordability problem that we have to address. I look forward to working with Houston [Gaines] and the governor in this next session to see how we can address that. I think income tax is a hot topic right now and we need to address it, but there’s a right and wrong way to do it. We’ve got to make sure we’re fiscally responsible when we do that,” Guest said.

Gisler has rebuked the idea of an income tax reduction as unrealistic. 

“Eliminating the state income tax, which is what the Republican Party is talking about at this point, would remove about $20 billion from the budget yearly, which is half of all state tax revenue,” Gisler said. “That is a lot of money to make up somewhere else, and the only way you can do it is other taxes, or you can cut programs that people depend on. I don’t see how it’s feasible, honestly.”

Gisler has approached the issue of affordability from the opposite angle, proposing an expansion of state programs and services. He has suggested he would help reduce costs by expanding state health care subsidies, as well as promoting more low-cost housing development to counteract the high cost of housing.

“Right now, there’s about 2 million Georgians that don’t have health care coverage at all due to reductions in ACA coverage. There’s also a lot of people in this state who have perfectly fine health care coverage, but don’t have a doctor to go to. I believe 12 rural hospitals have closed in the last 15 years. And it’s not such a bad problem here in this district, but it certainly is in more rural areas of the state,” Gisler said.

Beyond affordability, Gisler has proposed changes to Georgia’s campaign finance regulations, citing concerns with the Public Service Commission accepting major contributions from Georgia Power, the same organization that they are regulating.

“Georgia Power executives were making contributions to the public service commissioners that were deciding how to handle the company. Not only that, but the lawyers representing Georgia Power in front of the Public Service Commission were making contributions. That’s a red flag to me. Campaign finance is something that we’ve got to do something about, because that may be legal, but it certainly isn’t ethical,” Gisler said.

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