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Anthony Azaria, the Democratic candidate for Marion’s Sixth Ward Council seat, appeared on a recent episode of the Watchman’s Report to discuss his candidacy, delivering a message deeply rooted in his personal experiences with addiction, recovery, and the daily struggles he witnesses in the community.
Joining hosts Cody Higley, Jason Foreman, and Robert Landon, Azaria, a 25-year-old Marion native and Grant Middle School librarian, offered a raw and personal glimpse into what motivated him to run for office.
A ‘Happy Story’ Born from ‘Dark Days’
When asked about his “political awakening,” Azaria pointed not to a political event, but to a profound family hardship. “My mom was a drug addict for 11 years,” Azaria shared, noting this covered most of his life from 2003 until 2014.
He anchored this personal trial in a wider community tragedy: the 2014 heroin epidemic that ravaged the city. It was a somber period that Marion Watch calls “the dark days”, we lost so many!
But Azaria was quick to pivot from tragedy to triumph, emphasizing his family’s happy story. “She got clean in 2014. [She’s] been sober for 11 years now,” he said proudly, adding, “She’s doing very well”.
This experience, he explained, is what first sparked his desire for public service. At just 14, seeing a gap in support for children of addicts, he tried to launch a support group. “They’re not going to really listen to a 14-year-old,” he recalled of his efforts to engage city administration. “But I wasn’t going to stop”.
From the School Library to the Campaign Trail
Azaria connected that early motivation to his current work as a librarian in the Marion City Schools. He described the “front line” view it gives him into the city’s generational struggles.
“I see kids that not everyone else gets to see,” he said, estimating that “well over 75%” of students in the city schools come from what society would term a “dysfunctional family or home life”. He spoke of students who don’t get food outside of school or who don’t have access to showers, concluding that “our kids have to face adversity from the beginning”.
This daily reality, he argued, gives him a unique and necessary empathy for the role.
Targeting the Sixth Ward and City Hall
Azaria is challenging incumbent Republican Ron Prater for the Sixth Ward seat, a traditionally conservative district. He explained his strategy was tactical: “Am I going to want to face one person or am I going to want to face five or six?” he said, referencing the crowded at-large races.
When asked to rate his opponent’s performance on a scale of 1 to 10, Azaria gave him a “three, four,” stating, “He shows up and he votes, but I don’t know if there’s enough… I don’t think that the questions that need to be asked are being asked”.
Azaria directed sharp criticism at the city’s current financial leadership, particularly regarding the ongoing issues in the Auditor’s and Treasurer’s offices. He expressed frustration with Treasurer Tommy Reese for “refusing training” and was unequivocal about Auditor Miranda Meginness. When asked if he would support a recall effort, Azaria replied, “Absolutely”.
“If you can’t provide those answers, then you got to go,” he said.
A Nuanced Stance on Charter and a Vision for Inclusion
On the divisive issue of forming a charter government, Azaria offered a nuanced position. He stated he is against the charter measure this November, but purely for financial reasons.
“My concern is that we are pushing for this charter. We’re going to have to… spend 60, 70,000 dollars,” he argued. “Are we financially in the right moment to spend upwards of $70,000 on something that is possibly dead on site?”. He later clarified, “I think it would be a great idea eventually, but right now”.
If a charter commission is formed, Azaria said he would want to see “qualifications” for office and “term limits” implemented to stop “career politicians”.
As an openly gay man, Azaria also spoke on the importance of representation. He said he wants to be “true to myself” and transparent with voters, but also “show my students that they can be who they are without fear”. To that end, he proposed a potential policy: creating a “multicultural… advisory council” including LGBTQ, African-American, and Hispanic voices to ensure all community members “feel like they belong here in Marion”.
In his closing pitch, Azaria asked voters to “trust in me to at least ask the questions that need to be asked”.
The discussion circled back to its most personal theme as the show concluded. Host Jason Foreman, noting his own deep involvement in the issue, remarked how Azaria’s story hit home. Foreman shared that Marion Watch operations themselves “started in the addiction and treatment realm around 2009”, the very heart of the crisis Azaria was describing.
The exchange highlighted a stark reality: Azaria’s family had to navigate their crisis during those “dark days” when comprehensive local addiction treatment resources were largely nonexistent, and still evolving. Azaria’s “happy story” of his mother’s recovery was an exception in an era defined by loss. The interview served as a powerful reminder of how far the community has come, with a support infrastructure built from the ground up by those who, as Marion Watch noted, “lost so many.”