William Stancil (born July 16, 1985)[1] is an American lawyer, activist, and researcher on housing policy. He is notable for his presence on Twitter[a] and Bluesky, the harassment he receives from social media, and his candidacy for the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2024 in District 61A.
Stancil was born on July 16, 1985, to a local lawyer and an English teacher in Belmont, North Carolina.[2][3] He received a bachelor's degree in history[4] from Wake Forest University in 2007 and a master's degree in Reconstruction-eraBlack history from Queen's University Belfast in 2008.[2][5][6] Stancil moved to Minnesota in 2009[7] and received a juris doctor and master's degree in public policy from the University of Minnesota in 2013[2][5]. As of 2024, he was a research fellow at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Metropolitan Opportunity, with a focus on civil rights and education and housing policy, working for Myron Orfield, who later endorsed his House campaign.[5]
Social media
Stancil has been described as one of the "most well-known online pugilists in American politics" by the editor in chief of the Minnesota Reformer[8] and the Minneapolis–Saint Paul region's "most prolific public intellectual on social media" by Mpls St.Paul Magazine.[9]
Stancil joined Twitter in 2009, around the time he moved to Minnesota. He stated that he was not particularly active on Twitter until the first presidency of Donald Trump. Stancil's Twitter account saw a boost in popularity starting in May 2023, when he began posting in favor of the idea of the economic policy of the Biden administration causing economic growth instead of a recession. This saw positive reception among centrists and negative reception among leftists, the latter group believing that Stancil was a shill for the Democratic Party.[7]
Harassment
Stancil has been called the "most harassed guy on X" by Slate.[10] During his run for Minnesota House of Representatives, far-right accounts further escalated the harassment to his opponents, claiming they were supporters of Stancil.[11] Such users also prompted Grok to tweet graphic fantasies of raping Stancil.[12] In October 2025, an account began posting The Will Stancil Show on X, an AI-assisted satirical cartoon of Stancil.[13][14] The right-wing author Charles Cornish-Dale, writing for The Spectator, described the series as "better than anything Comedy Central or Adult Swim has produced in the last 20 years."[15] In contrast, The Atlantic described it as the "racist, AI-generated future of entertainment."[14]
Candidates for endorsement at the SD61 DFL convention, left to right: Trevor Turner, Isabel Rolfes, Katie Jones, Dylan McMahon, Jared Brewington, and Will Stancil
In 2024, Stancil ran for the Minnesota House of Representatives in District 61A as part of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. Stancil ran on a platform of increasing government accountability, revitalizing Minneapolis economically, better public education, enhancing public safety, restoring the tax base, and protecting civil rights.[16][17]
Far-right accounts claiming to be Stancil supporters harassed his opponents, resulting in his opponents increasing security at public events and limiting their use of Twitter.[18] Stancil received veiled criticism from his fellow candidates Katie Jones and Isabel Rolfes for his social media activity, both online and in person.[16] The candidates in the primary agreed that most voters in their district were not aware of Stancil's online presence. Opposition to Stancil mailed various social media posts Stancil had made to voters. Stancil claimed the bulk of online harassment would eventually subside after some weeks.[19]
Stancil received endorsements from Carpenters Local 322 and Lisa Goodman, a former Minneapolis City Councilwoman. His social media presence allowed him to receive $92,000 in campaign funding by August 2024. An independent expenditure committee called United 61A Neighbors, with initial funding of $3,000 from Unidos We Win PAC, was formed with the express purpose of causing Stancil to lose the primary.[16]
Stancil lost the primary to Katie Jones, who proceeded to win the seat in the general election.[20]
Stancil's politics are considered center-left or liberal and he has received substantial criticism of his positions from both the left and right.[10][21] Stancil has been described as being a "die-hard liberal Democrat" since 2003.[3]
Initially holding Republican beliefs in high school, Stancil marched against the Iraq War in 2002,[22] describing it in an interview as "radicalizing" him.[3] Stancil ran a field office in Belmont for Barack Obama in 2008. In 2020, he supported Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign, and still cites Warren as a good indicator of his basic political outlook.[3][22]
Stancil stated in 2024 that he was "scared to death" of Donald Trump during his first presidency from 2016 to 2020, expressing his wishes that Trump would not be reelected that year.[16] In 2023 and 2024, Stancil argued that the economy under the presidency of Joe Biden was successful despite high inflation, claimed that those who argued otherwise were dishonest, and that the negative polarization against Biden was largely as a result of social media.[7]
Stancil believes that voters' perception of the world colored through social media is significantly more important than their material wellbeing, and that psychology was the primary reason Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election and Trumpism is successful.[23]
↑Kirshner, Alex (November 6, 2025). "The Most Harassed Guy on X Knows What's Wrong With Social Media. Democrats Should Listen to Him". Slate. The Slate Group. Retrieved December 1, 2025. In October, a woman with 43,000 followers debuted an A.I.-slop cartoon called "The Will Stancil Show," depicting a fictional Stancil as a parody of wokeness who hands out free housing vouchers to groups of Black kids.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
↑"Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social)". Bluesky Social. January 30, 2026. Archived from the original on January 30, 2026. Retrieved January 30, 2026. Okay so unfortunately I've been removed from rapid response networks, at least in my immediate area. I think even alerting you of this would be deemed a violation of principles but given how much I've talked about it I do feel the need to say what's up.
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