2021 Elections
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February 2021
The Ephrata Public Interest Committee was established in February, 2021 by Chandler Eby and Kevin Gudala. Mr. Eby was running for the Ephrata Borough Council in the Third Ward, and Mr. Gudala was running for Mayor of Ephrata. Lifelong friends who were both invested in politics at just 19 years old, Mr. Gudala and Mr. Eby decided to try to make a difference in their communities and work together as best they could in their historic campaigns. The result was the creation of the EPIC.
April-May 2021
In April of 2021, Mr. Eby and Mr. Gudala were interviewed by the Ephrata Review about their campaigns and the EPIC. Soon after, the two candidates held a massive door knocking event, where many Ephrata residents said it was the first time local candidates had actually attempted to reach out to them. On May 18th, the primary elections were held. Mr. Gudala won the Democratic Nomination for Mayor with the most votes in history. Unfortunately, Mr. Eby lost his race to the incumbent, but managed to earn an encouraging 42% of the vote. As a result, Mr. Eby became the Chairman of the EPIC and focused on running the organization, as well as advising Mr. Gudala on his ongoing campaign.
November 2021
Throughout the general election campaign, the EPIC endorsed Mr. Gudala and worked to elect him Mayor of Ephrata. The EPIC and Mr. Gudala's campaign worked closely together to fundraise and use social media to engage with youth voters. On election day, Mr. Gudala ultimately lost the election to the incumbent; but, with the help of the EPIC, he succeeded in winning the most votes in history for a Democratic nominee in Ephrata and made significant gains in mail-in ballots from youth voters away at college. After the election, Mr. Gudala left the EPIC to focus on school.