Published December 29, 2023
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.
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.”
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SOURCE: www.washingtonexaminer.com
RELATED: Maine senator: Trump’s name shouldn’t be stripped from ballot
Published December 29, 2023
Maine Sen. Angus King (I), who caucuses with the upper chamber’s Democrats, disagreed with the Thursday decision to remove former President Trump from the state’s ballot, saying the choice of whether to consider sending him back to the White House “should rest with the people.”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) announced Thursday that she would bar the former president from the 2024 primary ballot in the state, citing his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Like the Colorado Supreme Court, which blocked Trump from its state’s ballot earlier this month, Bellows cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The text, enacted in the wake of the Civil War, bars from office candidates who previously took oaths to support the Constitution and “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S.
“Although I respect the Secretary of State’s careful process—which she was specifically required to undertake under Maine law—absent a final 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,” the Maine senator said in a Friday statement. “This is the ultimate check within our Constitutional system.”
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SOURCE: www.thehill.com
RELATED: Maine GOP Sen. Collins Says Trump Removal From Ballot ‘Should Be Overturned’
Maine’s secretary of state announced she’d determined Trump was ineligible to appear on the ballot under the 14th Amendment’s provision barring insurrectionists from holding office
Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, said time is running short for Congress to pass the 12 annual spending bills. Jemal Countess/Getty Images
Published December 29, 2023
en. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Thursday came out against the decision to bar former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot.
“Maine voters should decide who wins the election – not a Secretary of State chosen by the Legislature,” said Collins, who is known as a moderate Republican who has hesitated to support Trump in the past, in a social media post. “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.”
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SOURCE: www.themessenger.com
