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Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows says Trump should not be allowed to run due his support of insurrection.
Former United States President Donald Trump has been kicked off the ballot for the 2024 presidential primary in Maine after a state official determined the Republican frontrunner is ineligible due to his support of insurrection.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, announced the decision to remove Trump from the ballot on Thursday, citing a clause in the US Constitution that bars those who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office.
Bellows said that Trump should be considered ineligible for run as the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 had “occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of” the former president.
“I do not reach this conclusion lightly,” said Bellows. “Democracy is sacred … I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”
Trump is facing criminal charges over his alleged role in trying to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election but the businessman-turned-politican has not been charged with insurrection related to January 6.
The Trump campaign said shortly after the announcement that it would challenge the decision in court.
Despite being one of the least populous US states with just four votes in the electoral college, Maine could play an outsized role in the 2024 election.
Trump carried the state’s rural 2nd district to secure one electoral vote in both 2016 and 2020.
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