ATLANTA —
The 5th Congressional District is frequently described as one of the most reliably Democratic districts in America. It’s the district that the late Congressman John Lewis represented for three decades.
Now, two women are on the ballot to fill the seat in Congress.
Democrat Nikema Williams is the frontrunner. Her challenger is Republican Angela Stanton-King. The winner of this race will be sworn in come January.
Georgia’s 5th district covers parts of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties. Here is a look at the candidates.
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Who is Nikema Williams?
The Democratic Party of Georgia selected Nikema Williams to run for the general election after Congressman Lewis died.
Williams and her husband are parents of a young son and live in Atlanta. Williams was born in Columbus, Georgia, then grew up nearby, in Alabama.
She graduated from Talladega College, an HBCU, in Talledega, Alabama, with a B.S. in Biology. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Williams moved to Atlanta and became a special education teacher in Fulton County.
Later, Williams was vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood Southeast, advocating pro-choice causes.
She is now a union executive, helping organize domestic workers, as deputy director of civic engagement with the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), and deputy executive director of Care in Action with NDWA.
Williams currently represents, in the legislature, some 174,000 Georgians who live in Senate District 39, which stretches across parts of the U.S. 5th Congressional District, from the north side of the City of Atlanta, south into the cities of East Point, College Park, Union City, and South Fulton.
And, in 2019, Senator Williams was selected as the first-ever Black woman to chair the Democratic Party of Georgia.
Who is Angela Stanton-King?
Angela Stanton-King ran unopposed in the Republican Primary. She is a former reality show star who did some time in federal prison. President Trump pardoned her in February for her 2004 conviction on federal conspiracy charges for her role in a car theft ring.
She is a political newcomer who touts criminal justice reform and the reunion of released prisoners with their families. She appeared on the BET series "From the Bottom Up," which focuses on women who rebuilt their lives after falling from grace.
Stanton-King has written three books, the autobiographical "Lies of a Real Housewife" (later retitled "Life of a Real Housewife"), "Dismissed With Prejudice" and "Life Beyond These Walls."
She is the goddaughter of right-wing religious figure and Atlanta native Alveda King, who is a niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
When she announced her campaign in March, she described herself on Twitter as “Pro GOD, Pro LIFE, Pro WOMAN, Pro AMERICA, Pro TRUMP and PRO COMMON SENSE,” according to an NBC News article.