Maine’s secretary of state has turned into everything the Democratic party warned about ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Democrats frequently cautioned during the 2022 election cycle that pro-Trump Republican secretaries of state would rig elections for their side. Instead, Democratic Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has removed former President Donald Trump from her state’s ballot based on her interpretation of the 14th Amendment. (RELATED: Meet The Left-Wing Activist Politician Who Kicked Trump Off The Maine Ballot)
RENO, NEVADA – DECEMBER 17: Republican Presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center on December 17, 2023, in Reno, Nevada. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Bellows barred Trump from the state’s primary ballot Dec. 28, 2023, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifying individuals from office if they engaged in insurrection.
“So — again, I am so mindful — and I said this in my decision — that it is unprecedented. No secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the 14th Amendment. But no presidential candidate has ever engaged in insurrection and been disqualified under Section Three of the 14th Amendment,” she told CNN on the night of her ruling.
Trump has not been charged with, or convicted of, insurrection for his conduct leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The former president is appealing Bellows’ ruling.
“We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement addressing Bellows’ ruling. “We will quickly file a legal objection in state court to prevent this atrocious decision in Maine from taking effect, and President Trump will never stop fighting to Make America Great Again.”
Democrats and their media allies sang a different tune in the lead-up to the 2022 midterms, often predicting that “election-denying” Trump supporters would pose a threat to democracy if they won statewide elections to become secretaries of state.
CNN ran a story on Nov. 1, 2022, listing a dozen MAGA secretary of state candidates running in states across the country. They posed a “major challenge for American democracy” by questioning or disputing the results of the 2020 presidential election.
TUCSON, ARIZONA – NOVEMBER 06: Arizona Republican candidate for Secretary of State Mark Finchem speaks at a campaign event on November 06, 2022, in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
NPR published a similar story on Nov. 5, 2022, a piece that resembled its February 2022 story listing the pro-Trump secretary of state candidates in Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan and other competitive states.
CNBC investigated the wealthy donors funding the Republican secretary of state nominees and the New York Times even had an article in October 2022 describing how Democratic secretary of state hopefuls were apparently struggling to fend off their MAGA counterparts.
After the 2022 midterms, multiple stories came out detailing how the slate of pro-Trump candidates performed badly in their respective elections.
Bellows supported sitting President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Trump’s likely opponent in the 2024 general election. Trump is the polling favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, the RealClearPolitics state and national polling averages show.
Democrats and Republicans from Maine have come out against Bellows’ decision and said voters should decide the outcome of Maine’s election.
Maine voters should decide who wins the election – not a Secretary of State chosen by the Legislature.
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.
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) December 29, 2023
Colorado became the first state to disqualify Trump from its ballot with a 4-3 state Supreme Court decision on Dec. 19 under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The Colorado Republican party is appealing the decision and Trump’s campaign is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime, Trump will remain on the state’s ballot.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a left-wing legal organization, was behind the legal challenge in Colorado and fundraised off the decision. (RELATED: There’s A Direct Line Between Joe Biden’s Deep State And Trump Getting Removed From Colorado’s Ballot)
Other Democratic secretaries of state have said they will keep Trump on their ballots despite their political opposition to his candidacy.
“I take my role as an elections administrator seriously, and feel strongly that as elected officials, Secretaries of State should not be in the business of determining who can and cannot run for office when the legal water is so murky,” Democratic Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore wrote Dec. 29 in the Boston Globe.
Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has come out in support of keeping Trump off the Colorado ballot.