Maine’s leading congressional lawmakers are condemning their state’s secretary of state for removing former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot.
The Pine Tree State is represented in Congress by two senators and two House members, only one of whom is standing by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’s use of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution to bar Trump from the 2024 ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
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Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Angus King (I-ME), both of whom voted to impeach the former president during his second impeachment trial, condemned the move in statements released after the Thursday decision was announced.
“Although I respect the Secretary of State’s careful process – which she was specifically required to undertake under Maine law – absent a final judicial determination of a violation of the 14th Amendment’s disqualification clause, I believe the decision as to whether or not Mr. Trump should again be considered for the presidency should rest with the people as expressed in free and fair elections,” King said on Friday.
“This is the ultimate check within our Constitutional system,” he added.
“Maine voters should decide who wins the election – not a Secretary of State chosen by the Legislature,” Collins said in a statement late Thursday. “The Secretary of State’s decision would deny thousands of Mainers the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice, and it should be overturned.”
Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), one of Maine’s two House lawmakers, joined Collins and King, the latter of whom is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, in opposing the decision.
“I voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the January 6th insurrection. I do not believe he should be re-elected as President of the United States,” Golden, who represents a swing district, said. “However, we are a nation of laws, therefore until he is actually found guilty of the crime of insurrection, he should be allowed on the ballot.”
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) was the only member of Maine’s delegation to come out in favor of the move to keep Trump off the ballot.
“The text of the Fourteenth Amendment is clear. No person who engaged in an insurrection against the government can ever again serve in elected office,” Pingree posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump incited a violent mob to block Congress from certifying the Electoral College + overturn the 2020 presidential election.”
“Our Constitution is the very bedrock of America and our laws and it appears Trump’s actions are prohibited by the Constitution,” she added.
Bellows, a Democrat who unsuccessfully challenged Collins for her coveted Senate seat in 2014, wrote in her historic Thursday ruling that Trump’s conduct ahead of and during the Capitol riot violated the “insurrection clause” in the 14th Amendment, which bars anyone who assists in rebellions against the United States from holding public office.
“I conclude that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid,” Bellow’s filing stated, adding that the former president “used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters” and “was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it.”
Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign has vowed to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court if necessary, as is being done with the Colorado matter.
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The developments in Maine come just one week after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot next year based on the same 14th Amendment argument. The Colorado Republican Party appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Colorado secretary of state has said Trump will remain on the ballot until the appeals process is complete.
Lawsuits in dozens of states have sprung up to disqualify Trump from the ballot, though the efforts are unlikely to be successful without criminal convictions against the former president, particularly on the insurrection charges.
