A new Bangor city councilor has been the subject of right-wing outrage since she was elected last week, though residents of the Queen City are still backing her in her new role.
Angela Walker has made headlines across the country in national publications in recent days because of her criminal record. Walker and her brother were convicted of manslaughter in 2003, and she is now in recovery from addiction.
Stories from outlets such as the New York Post and Fox News cite social media users, none of whom appear to live in Bangor, as being disturbed by the election results.
Interviews with city councilors and members of the public indicate that the harsh criticism of Walker is not representative of widespread sentiment in Bangor itself. More than 2,000 people voted for Walker, choosing her as one of three new councilors out of a crowded candidate pool after the Bangor Daily News first reported on her criminal record in September.
“These three people were voted by the citizens,” said council chair Susan Hawes of the new councilors, noting that the information being reported in national outlets is nothing new to people who know Walker.
Walker, known by her maiden name Angela Humphrey at the time, and her brother were convicted in 2003 for the death of Derek Rogers. A fight broke out after Rogers allegedly called Walker a derogatory term for Native American women, and he was later found severely beaten and suffocated with sand, according to news reports from the time.
Walker did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
“I want people to see that it’s possible that we can change,” she previously told the BDN.
Walker works as the peer services coordinator for the Bangor Area Recovery Network and said she hopes her life and career experiences would help her be a voice on the council for the city’s most vulnerable residents amid intersecting homelessness and addiction crises.
She is unenrolled in a political party.
“People need to stop with the foolishness. The things they were talking about were 20 plus years ago,” Hawes said of the national attention being given to Walker. “Shame on them.”
Multiple councilors told the BDN they see Walker’s election as an example of how people can grow and serve their communities despite past mistakes.
“We have a justice system for a reason, and it did what it was designed to do. She did her time,” said Susan Faloon, another new councilor who was sworn in Monday morning.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also weighed in on social media last week. “Um, wut?” he wrote in response to a post about Walker on “Libs of Tiktok,” an influential right-wing account that is known for posting inflammatory content.
Councilor Joe Leonard criticized Cruz’s commentary, saying, “that person needs to focus on his own constituency.”
Leonard and Faloon, as well as members of the local recovery community, also emphasized how Walker’s past experiences could be an asset to the council’s work.
“We probably couldn’t have a better person, who has the right kind of lived experience, on the Bangor City Council at this moment in time when we are in the midst of an opioid crisis, in the midst of a homelessness crisis, in the midst of a mental health crisis,” said Doug Dunbar, who runs the Penobscot County Cares coalition. Dunbar is also in recovery and met Walker after he got out of jail in 2018.
“Every one of us has extremely different life experiences and career experiences and backgrounds,” Faloon said of herself and her peers joining the council. “Those differences are going to be our strength.”
Even some who didn’t support Walker in the election aren’t giving much credence to the backlash from outside of the community.
Wayne, a longtime Bangor resident who read up on all the candidates before voting last week and declined to share his last name outside the Bangor Public Library Monday, said that although he did not vote for Walker, “she was elected, so that’s the way it works.”
