Maine Trump ruling: Republicans react to removal of former president from primary ballot
Eden Villalovas
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Republicans are condemning Maine’s Democratic secretary of state for removing former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot on Thursday.
Maine became the second state behind Colorado to move to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot using Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, barring the former president from holding office for his role in the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
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Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement shortly after the decision that the former president’s legal team “will quickly file a legal objection in state court to prevent this atrocious decision in Maine from taking effect.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who is battling to hold on to second place in the 2024 GOP primary, said the decision from Maine’s secretary of state “opens up Pandora’s box” of what can disqualify a presidential candidate from the ballot, bringing the issue back to President Joe Biden’s policies.
“It opens up Pandora’s box. Can you have a Republican secretary of state disqualify Biden from the ballot? Because he’s let in 8 million people illegally, a massive invasion, including from enemies of our country, places like Iran, China, Middle East have poured in with his knowledge,” DeSantis said on Fox News.
The Florida governor said he doesn’t think Maine’s ruling will be upheld.
“I think that we win when we hold Biden accountable and talk about the issues that matter to the American people. So I think the Democrats, they want the election to be about all these other issues. They do not want to face accountability for their failed policies,” DeSantis said.
Also speaking on Fox News, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), a key leader in the impeachment inquiry of Biden and investigation into his son, said he was not surprised by the decision and expects other Democratic states will follow.
“I think that the Democrats are trying to do everything they can in a last-ditch effort to disrupt the Republican momentum right now heading into the presidential election,” Comer said.
“We see Democrat tweets and Democrat politicians encouraging Democrat secretaries of state and liberal Supreme Courts to do this just to try to create a narrative that the Republicans are a threat to democracy,” Comer added.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who has recently come under fire for allegedly pressuring GOP Wayne County canvassers not to certify 2020 votes, according to a recording reviewed by Detroit News, called the ruling in Maine “election interference” by Democrats.
“Democrat election interference, just like we saw in Colorado,” McDaniel wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “State officials do not get to decide who the American people cast their vote for. We look forward to helping fight this legal battle in the US Supreme Court.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) echoed calls of election interference, writing on X, “Maine Secretary of State Sheena Bellows is a DISGRACE to the country. THEIR ONLY CHANCE AT WINNING IS RIGGING THE ELECTION! Trump will be BACK in the White House. WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!”
Several other Republican lawmakers expressed their frustration at the latest ruling to bar Trump from holding office.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) called Maine’s ruling “an egregious abuse of power” on X and said he would introduce legislation that would prevent similar future actions in other states.
Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) said blocking the Republican front-runner from the ballot “is the type of crooked behavior you’d expect to see in a third world dictatorship—not America.”
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Across the aisle, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) criticized the decision by the Maine secretary of state. Golden voted to impeach Trump in 2021 for his role in the Capitol riot after previously voting for one article of impeachment against him in December 2019.
“I do not believe he should be re-elected as President of the United States,” Golden wrote in a statement shared on X. “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.”