When it is not election season, Athens County Republicans meets in county Chairman Pete Couladis's home, which is about a 10 minute drive from Uptown.
In the months leading up to a major election, though, members of the Athens County Republicans meet in a temporary space closer to Uptown. This year the Republicans have set up shop at the intersection of West Union Street and South Shafer Street. It is smaller than some of the buildings used by the County Republicans in the past, but much of the space is used for the sole purpose of storing campaign materials such as pamphlets and signs.
"We can't afford a full-time headquarters," Couladis said. "So we move around a lot, renting places for a few months during major elections."
Occasionally the temporary office is still used as a gathering space to watch the presidential debates or meet up before knocking on doors. But with the increased use of technology to coordinate campaigning efforts, the need for a meeting space has become less important.
"We have all that set up on apps or on our laptops," volunteer and Athens resident Rebecca Keller said. "So we don't have to be here to get organized."
Previous locations include the current location of the Westend Cider House, 234 W. Washington St., and a storefront on Court Street that is now occupied by the restaurant Ginger Asian Kitchen. Couladis said they opened an office this year in mid-September, later than usual because they had trouble finding a place that had everything the party was looking for.
"We wanted a place within our budget, with parking and storage space," he said. "But it also has to be close enough to town that students can come by."
The building is plastered with signs for the Republican races — Jay Edwards for state representative, Rob Portman for Senate and, most prominently, Donald Trump for president.
"We've had a lot of people coming in here to get Trump signs," Keller said.
The Portman campaign has its own campaign offices in Athens, located at 80 N. Court Street. Couladis said those offices are mainly used to make phone calls for Portman and it is not shared with the Athens County Republicans
The Athens County Democratic Party does not actually run the local Democratic headquarters at 77 E. State St. Ohio Together, which is organized by the Hillary Clinton campaign, runs the office. But local Democrats use it to coordinate support for local politicians such as U.S. Senate candidate Ted Strickland. The office opened late August, about a month before the County Republicans opened their campaign building.
The Athens County Democratic Party members have rented a space, but not in Athens. On Sept. 15, they opened their election headquarters in Nelsonville with a visit from Strickland.
"The northern part of Athens County, it is really important to reach voters there," County Democratic Party chair John Haseley said. "There's a lot of synergy when you have one in each city."
