# Angela V. McKnight

Angela V. McKnight (born March 10, 1977) is an American Democratic Party politician who has represented the 31st Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since she was sworn into office on January 12, 2016.
A resident of Jersey City, New Jersey, McKnight received a bachelor's degree from the University of Phoenix with a major in business management. She is the founder and chief executive officer of AngelaCARES, an advocacy and support organization for senior citizens.

## New Jersey General Assembly

Under the terms of a bill introduced by McKnight in the General Assembly in 2019, students would be required to demonstrate proficiency in the use of cursive handwriting, both reading and writing, by the end of the third grade. McKnight cited the bill as providing children with "a vital skill they will need for the rest of their lives", noting that without cursive skills "how will our students ever know how to read a scripted font on a word document, or even sign the back of a check".

## New Jersey Senate

McKnight received the nomination for the Senate seat following the announcement that Sandra Bolden Cunningham would not run for re-election after 16 years in office. McKnight defeated Republican Luis Soto in the 2023 New Jersey Senate election.

### Committees

Committee assignments for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:
* Education
* Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens
* Law and Public Safety

## District 31

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The representatives from the 31st District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:
* Senator Angela V. McKnight (D)
* Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (D)
* Assemblyman William Sampson (D)

## Electoral history
### Senate

31st Legislative District General Election, 2023 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Angela V. McKnight | 14,421 | 75.8 |
| | Republican | Luis Soto | 4,593 | 24.2 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 19,014 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |

### General Assembly

31st legislative district general election, 2021 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Angela V. McKnight (incumbent) | 26,187 | 38.30% |
| | Democratic | William Sampson | 24,810 | 36.28% |
| | Republican | Rose Javier | 8,817 | 12.89% |
| | Republican | Brandon Vila | 8,565 | 12.53% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 68,379 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
31st Legislative District General Election, 2019 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Angela McKnight (incumbent) | 18,432 | 43.22% |
| | Democratic | Nicholas Chiaravalloti (incumbent) | 16,750 | 39.27% |
| | Republican | Jason Mushnick | 3,792 | 8.89% |
| | Republican | Mary Kay Palange | 3,674 | 8.61% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 33,893 | 100% |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
31st Legislative District general election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Angela V. McKnight (incumbent) | 23,616 | 42.0 | 6.7 |
| | Democratic | Nicholas Chiaravalloti (incumbent) | 22,823 | 40.6 | 6.7 |
| | Republican | Michael J. Alonso | 4,994 | 8.9 | 5.3 |
| | Republican | Lauren DiGiaro | 4,766 | 8.5 | 1.1 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 56,199 | 100.0 | |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
31st Legislative District general election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Angela V. McKnight | 9,597 | 35.3 |
| | Democratic | Nicholas Chiaravalloti | 9,212 | 33.9 |
| | Republican | Matthew Kopko | 3,872 | 14.2 |
| | Republican | Herminio Mendoza | 2,603 | 9.6 |
| | Your Independent Leadership | Anthony Zanowic | 958 | 3.5 |
| | Your Independent Leadership | Alejandro Rodriguez | 934 | 3.4 |
| | Write-ins | Personal choice | 32 | 0.1 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 27,208 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |