A Republican state representative has moved to impeach Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows after she announced that former President Donald Trump would be disqualified from her state’s presidential primary ballot.
State Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) blasted Bellows’ decision, saying this week that the decision was an example of “raw partisanship” and that she had no authority to unilaterally remove Trump from the ballot. Bellows made her decision based on her belief that Trump violated the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause on January 6, 2021.
“I wish to file a Joint Order, or whichever is the proper parliamentary mechanism under Mason’s Rules, to impeach Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. I wish to impeach Secretary Bellows on the grounds that she is barring an American citizen and 45th President of the United States, who is convicted of no crime or impeachment, their right to appear on a Maine Republican Primary ballot,” Andrews said.
“Donald J. Trump has met all qualifications for the March 2024 Republican Presidential Primary. He should be allowed on the ballot. This is raw partisanship and has no place in the offices of our state’s Constitutional Officers,” he added.
Bellows, a Democrat, rejected a bid by Trump’s legal team to get her to recuse herself from making a ruling on his eligibility amid multiple challenges to his candidacy. Andrews said that Bellows’ move was in part motivated in order to raise her ID for the Maine’s governor’s race in 2026.
“This is hyper-partisanship on full display. A Secretary of State APPOINTED by legislative Democrats bans President Trump from the 2024 ballot so that she can jockey for position in the 2026 Democrat Primary for Governor. Banana Republic isn’t just a store at the mall,” he said.
Maine Republicans have considered moving to a caucus system to bypass Bellows’ ruling.
“This political activism by Shenna Bellows, it’s not going to stand,” Maine GOP Chairman Joel Stetkis told WGAN. “At the party, since yesterday, we’ve been working on an appeal to the Maine Superior Court and we’re also reserving the right to return to a caucus system where Shenna Bellows will have absolutely no say in who Mainers choose for the Republican nominee for president.”
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Trump has faced a number of 14th Amendment challenges to his candidacy including in states like Michigan and Minnesota where efforts have failed. In Colorado, the state’s supreme court decided to kick Trump off the ballot last week.
As of Thursday, Trump will be allowed to appear on Colorado’s 2024 primary ballot after the state’s Republican Party asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that disqualified him.
