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Vulnerable House Dem criticizes ‘extreme’ left in shocking 2026 announcement
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A House Democrat representing a district that President Donald Trump won in 2024 is not seeking re-election next year.
Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, announced his plans in an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday, a day after Democrats’ sweeping electoral victories in Virginia, New Jersey, California and New York City.
«I have never loved politics. But I find purpose and meaning in service, and the Marine in me has been able to slog along through the many aspects of politics I dislike by focusing on the good work that Congress is capable of producing with patience and determination,» Golden wrote.
«But after 11 years as a legislator, I have grown tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community — behavior that, too often, our political leaders exhibit themselves.»
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Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, attends a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, July 17, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Golden has represented Maine’s 2nd Congressional District since 2019. He’s managed to hold on to the seat through his constituents voting for President Donald Trump in both 2020 and 2024.
The moderate Democrat — also a Marine Corps veteran — has been known to frequently break from his own party, including on the recent government shutdown vote in September.
He shared more of his concerns with the left in his retirement announcement, criticizing both Republicans and Democrats for the current state of politics in the country.
«We have seen mainstream Republicans stand by as their party was hijacked first by Tea Party obstructionists and then by the MAGA movement and its willingness to hand much of Congress’ authority to the president,’ Golden wrote.
«I fear Democrats are going down the same path. We’re allowing the most extreme, pugilistic elements of our party to call the shots. Just look again at the shutdown. For as long as I can remember, we have opposed shutting down the government over policy disputes. We criticized Republicans for taking hostages this way. But this year, reeling from the losses of the last election, too many Democrats have given into demands that we use the same no-holds-barred, obstructionary tactics as the GOP.»
Golden broke from his fellow Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, on the government shutdown vote in September. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
And despite his seat being a prime target for Republicans every two years, Golden said that did not factor into his decision.
«I don’t fear losing. What has become apparent to me is that I now dread the prospect of winning. Simply put, what I could accomplish in this increasingly unproductive Congress pales in comparison to what I could do in that time as a husband, a father and a son,» he wrote.
«I have long supported term limits and while current law allows me to run again, I like the idea of ending my service in Congress after eight years — the length of term limits in the Maine Legislature.»
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Golden’s seat had been ranked a «toss-up» by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which also rated his district slightly in favor of the GOP at R+4.
House Republicans’ campaign arm wasted no time in seizing on Golden’s announcement, releasing its own statement shortly after his op-ed was published.
President Donald Trump won Golden’s district in 2016, 2020 and 2024. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
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«Serial flip-flopper Jared Golden’s exit from Congress says it all: He’s turned his back on Mainers for years and now his chickens are coming home to roost. He, nor any other Democrat, has a path to victory in ME-02 and Republicans will flip this seat red in 2026,» National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said in a release to reporters.
Beyond his frustration with partisan politics, however, Golden also revealed that the heightened political environment also pushed him to re-consider his congressional career.
Golden said earlier this year that he and his family had to spend Thanksgiving in a hotel room after receiving a bomb threat at their home.
House Democrats’ campaign arm thanked Golden for his service in its own statement upon his retirement.
«I sincerely commend Jared for all the work he has done for Mainers, from lowering costs to protecting lobstermen’s jobs and fighting for veterans,» Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chair Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said. «He has devoted his life so far to service, first as a Marine, then in the Maine legislature, and in Congress since 2019. He embodies Maine’s independent spirit and I wish him and his family all the best in their next chapter.»
house of representatives politics,elections,democrats,politics
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What Jay Jones’ victory means for Democrats and the ‘new era of violent rhetoric,’ according to experts
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Democrats in Virginia elected an attorney general who privately fantasized about murdering his political opponents, raising questions from experts who spoke to Fox News Digital about whether the Democratic Party is serious about condemning political violence.
«The moral rot infecting the Democrat Party is here to stay and voters just proved it,» Mehek Cooke, a GOP political consultant and commentator, told Fox News Digital after Jay Jones won the race for Virginia attorney general.
Jones defeated incumbent Republican Jason Miyares despite a campaign plagued with scandal after it was revealed he fantasized in 2022 text messages about shooting former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert in the head while also suggesting that harm should come to that Republican’s young «fascist» children.
«Jay Jones called for the death of political opponents and their children, yet instead of rejecting that extremism, Democrat voters rewarded it,» Cooke said.
INSIDE JAY JONES AND THE DEMOCRATS’ LATE SURGE TO UPSET WINS ACROSS VIRGINIA, FROM THE SUBURBS TO THE SHORE
Virginia attorney general candidates Jay Jones, left, and Jason Miyares, right. ( Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Julian Epstein, a longtime Democratic operative, attorney, and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital the «near unanimous rationalizations» from Democrats is driven by a «moral relativism that is a race to the bottom for any civilization.»
Epstein explained, «The collective shoulder shrug about a candidate who fantasizes about the assassination of his opponents and the death of his opponent’s children is of the same piece with the new era of violent rhetoric from the left and the data showing that nearly half of young progressives think that political violence can be justified. To look the other way on this because of political expedience is to lose the plot as to why one is in the public square in the first place.»
Ultimately, Cooke told Fox News Digital, the election of Jones in Virginia will help Republicans going forward.
TRUMP APPEARS TO JAB DEFEATED REPUBLICANS, SAYING IT’S ‘EASY’ TO WIN ELECTIONS ‘WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THE FACTS’
Virginia attorney general candidate Jerrauld «Jay» Jones speaks at an event in Norfolk, Virginia. (Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
«These reckless choices by the Left, including the election of Jay Jones, will only electrify the Republican base heading into the midterms and beyond,» Cooke said.
Kentucky GOP Rep. Andy Barr, running for U.S. Senate next year, echoed the sentiment that Republicans look better to voters overall than Democrats after Tuesday night.
«The Democrat Party just elected a Socialist to run the financial capital of the world and a Leftist Attorney General who wished for Republican leaders and their children to be killed,» Barr said. «Meanwhile, one year after the greatest political comeback in history, President Trump is Making America Great Again. Our golden age will continue as the Democrat Party disgraces itself.»
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Voting booths and voters are seen at a polling location. (Graeme Sloan for The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to the Jones campaign for comment.
News that Jones had sent the controversial texts, first reported by National Review, sparked a firestorm in early October, with many pundits believing the Jones campaign would be doomed for promoting political violence in a climate still reeling from the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
However, Democrats in Virginia remained behind Jones as gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and prominent elected Democrats in the state refused to call on him to step down after he apologized for the texts.
«At the end of the day, this election has never been about me or my opponent,» Jones said in his victory speech. «It has always been about every single one of us and the future of Virginia.»
politics,virginia,2025 2026 elections coverage
INTERNACIONAL
Detuvieron a un hombre con antecedentes pedófilos que importó una muñeca sexual con apariencia infantil
Un nuevo caso de importación de muñecas sexuales con apariencia infantil sacudió a Francia y encendió las alarmas de las autoridades. El lunes, empleados de un depósito cercano a Marsella detectaron un paquete sospechoso: era voluminoso, pesado y estaba parcialmente abierto. Al revisarlo, encontraron una muñeca de silicona de 1,30 metros, con rasgos de preadolescente.
El envío, que tenía como remitente a la empresa Zech, de origen chino, fue inmediatamente reportado a la policía. El destinatario, un hombre de 56 años que vive en Bouc-Bel-Air y que ya había sido condenado por delitos de agresión sexual, fue identificado y detenido.
Leé también: Escándalo en Francia: el gobierno suspendió al sitio Shein por vender muñecas sexuales con apariencia infantil
Investigación y allanamiento: la Justicia va tras los compradores
La fiscalía de Aix-en-Provence abrió una causa por “importación, tentativa de adquisición y tentativa de tenencia de imagen de menor con carácter pornográfico”. La policía secuestró la muñeca y realizó un allanamiento en la casa del sospechoso, donde incautó material informático que ahora está siendo analizado.
El hombre, que quedó bajo custodia, “tiene antecedentes penales por agresión sexual y admitió haber encargado la muñeca con fines sexuales», declaró la fiscalía al sitio Actu Marseille.
Shein retiró de la venta las muñecas ante el escándalo. (Foto: gentileza TF1).
El escándalo de las muñecas sexuales infantiles y la reacción oficial
Este caso se da en un contexto de máxima alerta en Francia, luego de que la brigada antifraude francesa denunciara la venta de muñecas sexuales con apariencia infantil en las plataformas chinas Shein y AliExpress. La polémica llevó a que la empresa fuera citada a declarar en la Asamblea Nacional en los próximos días, en el marco de una investigación sobre el control de productos importados.
La fiscalía de París también abrió varias investigaciones contra estas dos plataformas de venta online por “difundir imágenes o representaciones de menores de carácter pornográfico”.
Leé también: Escándalo internacional: denunciaron a Shein por vender muñecas sexuales con rasgos infantiles
Además, el gobierno de Emmanuel Macron anunció que suspenderá el sitio web de Shein después de detectar la venta de muñecas sexuales con apariencia infantil y de armas prohibidas en su plataforma online.
Según el Ministerio de Finanzas, la suspensión se mantendrá “todo el tiempo que sea necesario” hasta que Shein demuestre que cumple con las leyes francesas. La compañía respondió que prohibirá globalmente la venta de dichas muñecas y que cerrará temporalmente su marketplace en Francia para revisar los controles a los vendedores externos.
El portavoz de Shein en Francia, Quentin Ruffat, aseguró que la compañía colaborará “al 100%” con la Justicia y que entregarán los nombres de los compradores de muñecas si así lo requiere la investigación.
Qué dicen los expertos en pedofilia sobre las muñecas con rasgos infantiles
La Alta Comisionada para la Infancia, Sarah El Haïry, fue contundente: “Ir a buscar a quienes compraron estas muñecas en nuestro territorio es una obligación para proteger y controlar el estado de los niños que están en su entorno cercano”.
Según Véronique Béchu, excomandante de policía y directora del Observatorio contra el Ciberacoso y la Violencia contra Menores, el uso de estas muñecas dista mucho de ser inofensivo, sino que “contribuye directamente a la radicalización de la conducta pedocriminal”, afirmó al sitio FranceInfo.
“No es la muñeca la que ‘crea’ la desviación, pero constituye un indicador y un facilitador en el proceso delictivo”, explicó a franceinfo una fuente especializada en caso de abusos de niños. “Este tipo de objeto no canaliza el impulso: lo alimenta y lo estructura”, afirmó.
“Los pedófilos no operan según un modelo de ‘descarga’, sino mediante un condicionamiento progresivo, con desensibilización moral y una búsqueda de escalada en sus prácticas», agregó. Ciudadanos protestan contra la plataforma china Shein tras el escándalo de las muñecas sexuales. (Foto: AFP/Dimitar Dilkoff).
El uso de estas muñecas, a veces provistas de orificios sexuales, forma parte de una “escalada conductual“, continuó esta fuente policial, especificando que “en los casos judiciales, el uso de objetos sexualizados suele ser parte de un proceso progresivo” que comienza con la visualización de fotos y videos de abusos de niños, se intensifica con el uso de muñecas o juguetes sexuales que representan a un menor y alcanza su punto álgido con “la búsqueda de contacto real” . “Esto es lo que la criminología denomina el ciclo de la exteriorización”, resumió la misma fuente.
Florence Thibaut, profesora de psiquiatría y adicciones en el Hospital Cochin de París, especialista en temas de pedofilia, explicó que “entre las personas que tienen fantasías pedófilas, que las expresan y que las padecen, se estima que una de cada dos actuará según sus impulsos contra un niño”.
Medios galos recordaron asimismo que el excirujano Joël Le Scouarnec, condenado en mayo a veinte años de prisión por la violación y agresión sexual de 299 pacientes, en su mayoría niños, vivía rodeado de decenas de muñecas. Incluso había bautizado a algunas con los nombres de sus víctimas.
Francia, China, muñecas sexuales
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A viral video captured the moment a shark leapt out of the water in New Zealand and landed on a fishing boat, stunning the passengers on board.
The incident happened in Whitianga, New Zealand, in early November 2022, according to Storyful.
In the video, the mako shark bursts from the water and lands on the bow of the boat, flopping around before coming to rest near the front of the vessel.
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A shark was seen leaping out of the water in New Zealand and landing on a fishing boat, stunning the passengers on board. (Churchys Charters NZ via Storyful)
After several moments, the shark managed to wriggle free and return to the ocean unharmed.
BEACH BLISS TURNS CHAOTIC AS SHARK LUNGES AT SNORKELER: ‘HE COULD HAVE RIPPED MY ARM OFF’
The incident happened in Whitianga, New Zealand, in early November 2022. (Churchys Charters NZ via Storyful)
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The shocked passengers on the boat were also unharmed.
new zealand,world,wild nature,sharks
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