"I voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the January 6th insurrection," said Congressman Jared Golden after learning that the former president had been disqualified from the Republican primaries in Maine, the state where he grew up, where he lives with his wife, and which he has represented since early 2023. "I do not believe he should be re-elected as President of the United States." However, he added :
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.
While in the Democratic Party´s opinions - at least public - like Golden's clash, on the red side of Congress, the position has been uniformly critical. Senator Susan Collins, also from Maine, but a Republican, targeted the measure, stating that voters should choose the winner of the election. Not the Secretary of State.
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
Rep. Elise Stefanik, for her part, described the ban as "illegal" and "corrupt." She also targeted the Democrats, who, she assured, are instrumentalizing the institutions to eliminate President Biden's main opponent.
"This is election interference, voter suppression and a blatant attack on democracy," Stefanik said before asking the Supreme Court to intervene. If his wish is granted, electoral censorship in Maine would take the same path as that in Colorado, where the local branch of the Republican party requested the intervention of the highest court.
Shortly after learning of the Maine Secretary of State's decision, the former president's campaign team promised to appeal the decision.
Senator Thom Tillis promised that as soon as legislative sessions resumed, he would introduce a bill that would clarify that only the Supreme Court will decide claims made under the third section of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Constitutional Election Integrity Act also proposes withdrawing federal funding for election administration from states that use the constitutional amendment for political purposes.
Maine’s Democrat Secretary of State just removed Trump from the ballot. This is an egregious abuse of power and why I will be introducing the Constitutional Election Integrity Act as soon as Congress returns to session to stop these partisan officials and ensure any… https://t.co/evVu6bSv0H
— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) December 29, 2023
Attempting to prevent @POTUS’s main rival from appearing on the ballot is nothing short of election interference.
This is the type of crooked behavior you’d expect to see in a third world dictatorship—not America. https://t.co/vFZtcNOaf2
— Rep. Eli Crane (@RepEliCrane) December 29, 2023
ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!! 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!!
— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) December 29, 2023
Republican candidates line up
Nikki Haley's campaign, second in voting intentions in the Republican primaries, assured in a statement reported by The New York Times, that they would defeat the former president "fair and square." "It should be up to voters to decide who gets elected."
"The idea that one bureaucrat in an executive position can simply unilaterally disqualify someone from office, that turns on its head every notion of constitutional due process that this country has always abided by for over 200 years," said the Florida governor and candidate to the GOP nomination, Ron DeSantis, in an interview with Fox News.
He also assured that the decision "opens up Pandora's box " and questioned whether a Republican Secretary of State should be able to disqualify Joe Biden. Although he said that it would be a hot topic in the presidential elections, he assured that the Supreme Court will once again enable the former president.
👀DESANTIS reacts to Maine removing Trump from the ballot:
"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."
"We win when we hold Biden accountable and… pic.twitter.com/TT0NSaMKro
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) December 29, 2023
Vivek Ramaswamy reaffirmed the promise he made when the Colorado Supreme Court banned Trump from participating in the state's presidential primaries: to withdraw his own candidacy from those state elections. "I will voluntarily remove myself from any GOP primary ballot where one of my competitors, Donald Trump included, is forcibly removed through this unconstitutional manouver."
As he did with Colorado, Ramaswamy urged the other Republican candidates to make the same commitment.
A random person in Maine decides one day that Trump shouldn’t be on the ballot & there you go. It’s unconstitutional. It’s monarchical. It’s anti-American. But it’s happening. Time to wake up. pic.twitter.com/wsAzPVWbc1
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 29, 2023
