Fairwater (Cardiff electoral ward) have included Labour councillor Michael Michael, who was deputy leader of the Cardiff Council until 2008 and Plaid Cymru's Neil McEvoy, who was deputy leader of the council from 2008 to 2012. McEvoy had previously been a Labour Party councillor for the Riverside ward in the city and was also elected as a Plaid Cymru Assembly Member in the Wales Government in 2016. Plaid Cymru ("Fairwater and Pentrebane Voice") and Labour ("Fairwater and Pentrebane Fightback") both issue local campaigning newsletters containing allegations and counter-allegations against one another. These have included accusations that Cllr Michael Michael, a hairdresser, was profiting from
Fairwater, Double Bay company, only for it to collapse (in a major stockmarket downturn) three years later. Lady Mary Fairfax (née Marie Wein, 1922-2017) established the Australian Opera Auditions in 1964, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This was the first of a string of charitable organisations connected with the arts which she joined or initiated. She had lived at Fairwater since 1968, where she conducted a never-ending salon where guests were able to admire the art works of Rodin, Epstein, Dobell and Degas. Among those she entertained were actor Rudolf Nureyev, politician Pierre Trudeau, actor Phyllis Diller, entertainer Liberace,