A Maine community is facing serious questions about public safety and political judgment after a woman convicted in a violent killing won a seat on the Bangor City Council.
Angela Walker won Tuesday’s elections alongside Susan Faloon and Daniel Carson.
All three were described as “progressive” candidates, the Maine Wire reported.
Walker now works as a “peer services coordinator” for the Bangor Area Recovery Network.
She is reportedly in recovery from addiction, and carries a criminal history that stunned many outside the city.
In 2003, she was convicted of manslaughter for her role in a brutal killing and later served ten years in prison.
According to original reporting from The Maine Wire, Walker was convicted in the 2002 killing of Canadian tourist Derek Rogers.
The outlet described the killing as “brutal.”
Rogers had allegedly called her a “racist” name shortly before the attack.
Police said Rogers was severely beaten.
He was then suffocated to death with sand forced down his throat.
His body was discovered on August 1, 2002, on Old Orchard Beach in an area known as Ocean Park.
Despite the gruesome details of the crime, voters chose to put Walker into public office, granting her direct influence over local policy.
The decision comes as other jurisdictions are also electing candidates with histories or rhetoric that raise alarms about political extremism.
Earlier this week, Jay Jones won Virginia’s attorney general race.
As Slay News reported, Jones is a Democrat who previously expressed violent fantasies about murdering Republicans and their children.
Jones’s comments, first reported by National Review, included text messages from August 8, 2022.
In the tests, Jones fantasized about a hypothetical scenario in which he would kill then–Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert rather than Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot.
He also said he wished “Gilbert’s wife could watch her own child die in her arms so that Gilbert might move to the Left politically.”
These incidents highlight a growing pattern as major cities and states continue elevating individuals whose past actions, or stated wishes, reflect extreme violence rather than public-spirited leadership.
With the Democratic Party increasingly embracing candidates with radical records, critics warn that the trend is accelerating.
As local and state offices fall to individuals with violent pasts or rhetoric, observers are questioning how far the pattern will spread.
Many are now raising concerns about what it means for future national elections.
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