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Candace Owens: Her Journey to MAGA and Back
As a divisive figure in modern American politics, Candace Owens is no stranger to the spotlight. The conservative political figure is constantly releasing podcast clips, posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, and appearing on various talk shows to discuss a wide range of political topics. Her journey to being a MAGA sweetheart, however, was not straightforward. Now, in the midst of Trump’s second term, she is shifting her political alignment yet again.
Born in 1989, Owens grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, where she was raised by her grandparents. She made headlines early on when she was called racial slurs by her high school classmates. Voicemails threatening to kill Owens and calling her the N-word led her family to sue the school for mismanagement of the situation. Her family eventually received a settlement of more than $37,000, news that quickly spread throughout her local community.
In 2015, after dropping out of college for financial reasons, Owens co-founded and wrote for a marketing agency called Degree180. Her initial posts criticized the Republican Party, calling conservatives “bat-shit-crazy” and condemning Donald Trump as he ran for election the first time.
“The good news is, they [Republicans] will eventually die off (peacefully in their sleep, we hope), and then we can get right on with the OBVIOUS social change that needs to happen, IMMEDIATELY,” Owens wrote in one of her blog posts.
In 2016, Owens began another website called Social Autopsy that allowed individuals to track digital profiles and posts to expose online bullying. The site was attacked by both political parties for privacy concerns, and during the fallout, Owen’s own personal information was leaked, leading to intense racist hate crimes and threats to her safety.
Feeling betrayed, Owens found support in an unexpected place: the Gamergate community. Gamergate was an online controversy where people spread hateful bullying messages over video game ethics, oftentimes leading to strong political divides. Owen’s Social Autopsy software was roped into the debates and garnered a lot of support from right-wing politicians and public figures.
This is when Owens famously declared that she “became a conservative overnight” and began posting on YouTube under the name Red Pill Black. Her first video was called “Mom, Dad…I’m a Conservative,” a parody of a child coming out as gay.
After Trump’s presidential victory in 2016, Owens was recruited for Turning Point USA (TPUSA) by Charlie Kirk. She went on college tours across the country, preaching conservative talking points, gaining even more attention. However, her time with TPUSA was cut short, as comments she made downplaying Hitler’s intentions to harm the Jewish community forced her to resign.
She pivoted to join Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire, where she hosted her own podcast. She supported the “White Lives Matter” movement alongside Kanye West and made antisemitic comments, saying there is something “quite sinister” about Jewish people who use “the fact that they are Jewish to shield themselves from any criticism.” She was fired in 2024 by Shapiro, who is Jewish himself. Yet, Owens seemed excited about the split, as she posted, “The rumors are true—I am finally free.”
In 2025, Owens focused entirely on creating her own material, launching a podcast and continuing to post on YouTube and X. She found herself in major controversy again when she began the conspiracy theory that France’s first lady Brigitte Macron was transgender in her video series Becoming Brigitte. This led to a defamation lawsuit against Owens by the French court, and Mrs. Macron herself said the incident led to a series of intense online bullying. Owens brushed the situation off as a public relations stunt.
In the fall of 2025, Owens made headlines again when her former colleague and friend Charlie Kirk was assassinated. She was quick to publish many conspiracy theories surrounding his death, even saying Israel was involved, and thus received intense pushback from Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk and the rest of the Republican Party.
Since then, Owens has begun another political shift, this time away from the right. Owens said the current Trump is unrecognizable from who he was during his first administration, whom she worked with closely. She said in 2016, Trump represented hope for nationalism and progress, but now his actions show he is far more interested in foreign affairs than American problems.
Owens expressed disappointment with Trump’s new war in Iran, saying it is another unnecessary foreign conflict for the country. She disagrees with the president on the Israel-Gaza conflict, as she has been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his actions in the Middle East. “I wanted to move away from this globalized government with endless wars. Trump looked like a possibility for change, for nationalism,” she said, looking back on Trump’s first administration.
Owens is not alone, as several other major conservative political activists have since distanced themselves from Trump, including former House Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Alex Jones. These activists haven’t left their conservative ideals behind, but find that as the MAGA movement continues to rally behind Trump, the Republican Party’s platform is losing its focus on the American people.
Despite this, Democrats still find it hard to support conservatives who have distanced themselves from Trump, with Owens being no exception. Despite their less extreme views, most liberals do not support Owens and others, as they continue to amplify conservative rhetoric.
On top of this, ordinary conservatives are grappling with misalignment from the current administration and have found solace in Owens’ political journey. A 2026 survey found that a 38-year-old fan of Owens felt attacked when she first started speaking out against Trump, but when she started listening to Owens, she found a community she thought she’d lost. American singer-songwriter Tennille Amor told the survey she “admires” Owens for her bold opinions, despite considering herself politically neutral.
Author and journalist Kyle Spencer has written about the rise of the conservative youth movement for years, and said Owens may even have a strong enough appeal to pull voters away from Trump. Spencer explains Owens has positioned herself as an investigator who creates narratives that appeal to her audience, no matter if they are fact or fiction. He said it is this unique feature that allows her to reach so many people and, successfully, change so many minds. Spencer reveals Owen’s determination was instilled in her from a young age, but it is this trait that forces Owens to keep going, and many Americans as well. Spencer identified her as a major force in politics on both sides of the spectrum, saying Owens is a “very dangerous woman.”
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