Angela Stanton-King (born February 19, 1977) is an American author, television personality, convicted felon, and right wing speaker based in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. She spent two years in prison for

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

and was later pardoned by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

a decade after serving her sentence. She was the Republican candidate for Georgia's 5th congressional district in the 2020 election, losing to Democrat

Nikema Williams Nikema Natassha Williams (born July 30, 1978) is an American politician and political executive serving as the representative for . The district includes almost three-fourths of Atlanta. She was a member of the Georgia State Senate for the 39th d ...

after receiving 14.9% of the vote. She has been described as a

conspiracy theorist A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

for her support of

QAnon QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...

, which espouses a number of far-right conspiracy theories.

Early life

Stanton-King was born in

Cheverly, Maryland Cheverly is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located very close to Washington, D.C., though not bordering it directly. The town was founded in 1918 and incorporated in 1931. Per the 2020 census, the population was 6,17 ...

, and grew up in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. As a child, she also lived in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

,before moving to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

as a young adult. After serving her prison sentence, she met

Alveda King Alveda Celeste King (born January 22, 1951) is an American activist, author, and former state representative for the 28th District in the Georgia House of Representatives. She is a niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and daughte ...

, niece of

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

, while seeking assistance.

Conviction and presidential pardon

In 2004, Stanton-King was convicted on federal

charges for her role in a car theft ring and served two years in prison. She gave birth to a daughter while serving her sentence. Stanton-King was pardoned by President

in February 2020. After her release from prison, Stanton-King became an author (at first under the name Angela Stanton) and a reality show star. She wrote and edited a number of independently published autobiographical books, one of which led to a legal dispute with ''

The Real Housewives of Atlanta ''The Real Housewives of Atlanta'' (abbreviated ''RHOA'') is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on October 7, 2008. Developed as the third installment of ''The Real Housewives'' franchise, it has aired fourteen seaso ...

'' star

Phaedra Parks Phaedra Creonta Parks (born October 26, 1973) is an American television personality, attorney, businesswoman, author, actress and mortician. She is best known for appearing on Bravo's '' The Real Housewives of Atlanta'' from 2010 until 2017. Pr ...

suing her for $30 million. She has also appeared on the

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

television program ''From the Bottom Up''.

Politics

On March 6, 2020, Stanton-King officially launched a campaign to challenge incumbent Representative

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

for Georgia's 5th congressional district in the

2020 United States House of Representatives elections The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 3, 2020, to elect representatives from all 435 congressional districts across each of the 50 U.S. states, as well as six non-voting delegates from the District of C ...

. She won the Republican primary in an uncontested race, with polls indicating Lewis was a heavy favorite in the general election. Lewis died from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

on July 17, 2020, and was replaced on the ballot by

, state senator and chair of the

Georgia Democratic Party The Democratic Party of Georgia is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is one of the two major political parties in the state and is chaired by Nikema Williams. President Jimmy Carter was a Georgia Democrat. Sin ...

. On November 3, 2020, Stanton-King was defeated by Williams in a landslide victory for the Democrats, receiving 14.9% of the vote compared to 85.1% received by Williams. Stanton-King is part of a coalition of Black supporters of Donald Trump. Stanton-King attended an event at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

in February 2020 alongside

to celebrate

Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

. She supported the

First Step Act The First Step Act, formally known as the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, is a bipartisan criminal justice bill passed by the 115th Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in Decembe ...

, which outlawed the handcuffing of women during childbirth. While in prison in 2004, she says she was shackled while giving birth, and that her daughter was “snatched from erarms 24 hours later”. She supports the right to vote for anyone released after a felony conviction. Stanton-King tweeted in support of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'etat, and indicated her support for a military coup in the United States against President Joe Biden. Stanton-King has made several anti-

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

statements on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, including comparing the

LGBTQ rights movement Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...

pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

. She has said that she does not accept that her child is transgender. Stanton-King appeared on Dr. Phil to discuss her relationship with her child. Stanton-King subsequently threatened to assault transgender advocate Ashlee Marie Preston, who was also invited onto the program. Stanton-King was subsequently banned from Twitter for those threats.

Support for QAnon

Stanton-King has repeatedly tweeted

slogans and a number of baseless claims. In October 2020, she stormed out of an on-camera interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' when asked about her support of the conspiracy theory. At the 2021

Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; ) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU). ...

, she said she supported investigations into certain QAnon claims.

References

External links