Angelia Nikole James

Current office and 2026 campaign

Angelia Nikole James is a former Monroe City Council member seeking to return to the council as an unaffiliated candidate in the November 3, 2026 general election ⁸⁹. She qualified for the ballot by petition, gathering signatures from at least 1.5% of Monroe's registered voters (roughly 330 signatures) — one of two unaffiliated candidates running in 2026, alongside Abigail Pepper ⁸.

Background and education

James has lived in Monroe for 28 years and works as an accountant, having opened her own accounting firm in 2010 ⁸.

Career

James first won a Monroe City Council seat in the November 2019 general election, receiving 1,241 votes (16.3% of the total) and securing one of three available seats ⁹. She also worked for two seasons as head coach of the Porter Ridge High School varsity women's basketball team; Union County Public Schools confirmed she was no longer in that role following the September 2021 incident described below ¹.

Office history

James served on the Monroe City Council from December 2019 until her removal from office on April 7, 2022 (detailed below) ¹⁵.

Documented disputes and controversies

On September 9, 2021, Monroe police responded to a "disturbing the peace" call at the Fairfield Inn, where James was reported to have claimed felons were staying at the hotel and needed to be arrested; when asked how she knew this, she said "God spoke to her and told her." Police determined the individuals she identified were not felons. The situation continued at her home, where she told responding officers they were "demoted, fired, promoted or would be fired" and said Police Chief Bryan Gilliard had been terminated; she was later taken by EMS to Atrium Health Union Hospital, where she again told officers they were fired, removed an officer's face mask, and declared "COVID-19 was over" ². She was not charged with a crime in connection with this incident ¹.

On September 28, 2021, the Monroe City Council voted 5-2 to censure James over the incident (James and council member Franco McGee voted no); she apologized, calling her actions "inappropriate" and "unprofessional" ³. The council subsequently pursued her removal from office through the common-law amotion process, citing the hotel/home/hospital incidents along with allegations that she refused to isolate after testing positive for COVID-19 and held press conferences that "disparaged" city employees and the council ⁴. A hearing officer's report was presented to the council in March 2022, and on April 7, 2022 the council voted 6-0 to remove James from office ⁵.

James sued the city in federal court over her removal, raising retaliation and equal-protection/free-speech claims ⁷. On August 10, 2022, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad denied her motion for a preliminary injunction, upholding the amotion proceedings, the hearing officer's report, and the council's removal decision ⁶. She filed an appeal in 2023; the outcome of that appeal was not identified in the sources reviewed for this bio.

Sources