All but one of Maine’s U.S Congressional Delegation issued statements opposing Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision Thursday to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 Republican Primary ballot.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) took the strongest stance against Bellows’ decision, arguing that the ruling should be overturned.
“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,” said Collins on X.
[RELATED: Bellows Boots Trump, Biden’s Top GOP Foe, from Maine’s Primary Ballot…
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), who previously voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol Building protests, nonetheless criticized Bellows for her ruling.
“I do not believe he should be re-elected as president,” said Rep. Golden, “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.”
Golden was the only Maine Democrat to insist that Trump be afforded due process before he is allowed to appear on the ballot.
Secretary of State Bellows chose to remove Frmr. President Trump from Maine’s ballot on the grounds that he incited an insurrection, and is thus ineligible to hold public office under the 14th constitutional amendment.
Trump has not been convicted of that or any other crime, and Bellows’ decision has been criticized by Sen. King and other Maine officials.
King, who himself voted to convict Trump of inciting an insurrection, and who supports liberal policies, nonetheless opposes the unilateral removal of a candidate from Maine’s ballot for a crime of which he was not convicted.
“Absent a final judicial determination on the violation of the 14th amendment’s disqualification clause, I believe the decision as to whether or not Mr. Trump should again be considered for the presidency should rest with the people as expressed in free and fair elections,” said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) who caucuses with Democrats.
Only Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) of the state’s Congressional delegation supported the Secretary of State’s decision.
“On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump Incited a violent mob to block Congress from certifying the Electoral College and to overturn the results of the 2020 election,” said Rep. Pingree, “Our constitution is the very bedrock of America and our laws, and it appears that Trump’s actions are prohibited by the Constitution.”
Bellows, who has been outspoken in her hatred for Trump, claimed to be entirely unbiased in her decision.
[RELATED: Trump Blasts Biased Bellows, Calls for Recusal in Ballot Case…]
She was asked by Trump’s attorneys to recuse herself from the decision because she had already formed an opinion on his participation in an insurrection, but she declined the request.
Susan Collins a skeleton. Literally no input from her matters.
Angus King is just trying to gain favor from both sides. Most of Maine is with Bellows.
@connor
Susan Collins is a Democrat who has betrayed Repubs countless times. She is the picture next to Rino in the political dictionary. You guys couldn’t have a more well placed traitor. They wont let her retire either, so shes doomed to being wheeled around the capital drooling and shitting herself while staff vote and write on her behalf.
Angus is a placeholder to block a Repub until the system feels comfortable replacing him with an official Dem and declaring Maine 100% Blue.
You forgot Golden. His coming out is to recoup losses after flipping on gun grabs. Dems own those scary assault-rocket 51’s with extra thick clips too.
Maine voters are not in about cheating and self destruction. We actually oppose most of the legislature youve forced through, especially the $pending bills. We oppose the mass importation of America hating welfare recipients. Forcing Porn&Pronouns on children. Massive solar fields built by out of state workers that only benefits other states and foreign govs. No more fishing industry. Combustion engines. “Too white”. Reparations. And so on….
First of all, Jan 6 was NOT an “insurrection.” These Democrats have their own dictionary. And Chellie Pingree is a hypocrite. Pingree doesn’t seem to mind when those of her own ilk form a mob and disrupt life in DC or anywhere else! Where was she hiding during the horrific “summer of 2020”?
It’s not opposition if you enable it. We’re literally witnessing a coup unravel in our own country and letting it happen.
As a girl wearing guys tighty whitey underwear it’s important that I have a large audience. Since no one will listen to me in person or meet me in the streets for antifa terror 2.0 I have decided to come here and pretend that my opinion matters. It doesn’t. I wish I were a teacup.
Looking for some more info, will Mainers be able to write in Trump and have it count? I know in CO they will not count Trump write ins. I can’t find this info in Maine. Or is there work in progress to not count the Trump write ins as well?
@ Rena
1. It’s a ruse (theatre). Trump will still be on the ballet unless the supreme court says otherwise. Even shenna bellows admitted as such near end of her creamy pants cnn interview.
2. 17-21 (?) year old children still in the dept of education clutches are the target audiences for this nonsense theatre. They are easily manipulated. Think peer pressure. Every four years there is a new batch.
3. Trump is so attractive as a candidate the racists democrats are repeating their attempt to sabotage the Lincoln ticket. They kicked him off ten state ballots.
4. You can always physically write in anybody, however, be advised that democrats reserve the right not to count your vote if they don’t like the choice. Write in or otherwise.
5. Peace be upon Trump, MAGA and Palestine.
12- 31st- 23
When I lived in Maine 78 79, they were tough, common sense Maynards, tough as nails! What happened!?! It’s your help me those two years in my formative time.
Bellows is a political hack, unable to think coherently without guidance from her progressive communist overlords. An embarrassment.
At least Collins, King, and Golden recognized her idiocy and noted judicial proceedings were necessary before her premature announcement. Only Pingree, the perpetually reliable rich girl, ignored the Rule of Law, but couched her reply in the wishy-washy “appears” as to be expected from her press office.
The 2024 election will not come too soon, as the Democrats try to cheat their way into more power.
It is no surprise that Pingree and Bellows are expressing their hatred of President Trump: Socialist Turkeys of a feather, flock together.
Trump will be re elected in 24 . The fascist left has ensured it , their hatred
for freedom and the Constitution is coming back to bite them in the backside.
I have not seen any reporting on Gov. Mills’ position. Have I missed something or are journalists giving her a by?
So much for democracy and its sanctity. Since when does one person get to decide for a million (to say nothing of the hundreds of millions who will be affected by this decision) who they will be allowed to vote for?
I wouldn’t complain (as loudly, at least) if Trump had been convicted of a crime, but he hasn’t, so none of the sections of the US Constitution that is being bandied about by the elites (who hope that we plebians are ignorant knuckle-draggers who don’t know how to read) have any place in their arguments or decisions.
Who died and made Bellows God?
The Art Of War says to look weak when you are strong, and to look strong when you are weak.President Trump has put himself in the firing line to show the American people the vast subversion , corruption, mainstream media deception, the two tiered justice system that I have always referred to as Justice goes to the highest bidder, and now lawfare which has crossed over into the level of hyper insanity being openly engaged in by our governments at all levels. The awakening to these scoundrels/tyrants is now taking place at what was called Ludicrous Speed in Mel Brook’s film Space Balls.
Those on the far left/RINOS are about the only ones left who believe the official narratives of Orange man bad, insurrection, and so on., however they have the main stream media to act as an echo chamber making them appear much greater than they really are. These same people such as Bellows believe that they are actually going to keep President Trump out of the office of president when in fact every move that they make is adding to the death by a thousand cuts for their party, and only making President Trump more appealing to the masses that do not fall into the no one is so blind as those who refuse to see margins. President Trump easily could have implemented the insurrection act after the corruption of the 2020 election, but chose not to because to many of the public were still asleep to the mass corruption within our systems , and the end result would have been a civil war breaking out, so a different approach needed to be taken. Now after several years of Biden the public is in a very different place.
I personally believe, and have been saying so for sometime that there will not be a 2024 election, that by that time enough of the public will have woken from the matrix slumber, and will demand accountability for the crimes committed against We The Peoples which will allow the military (none woke portion) to step up to enforce its constitutional duties to defend the constitution without mass rebellion, or civil war breaking out. Again as I said in another comment: President Trump has said many times that they caught them all, that the have everything. Right now the left is living high on the hog, but those days are coming to an end. I am reminded of Baghdad Ali during Gulf War one making his daily press conferences informing all is well as each minute of each day the invading armies get closer, and then one day Baghdad Ali is gone along with the illusion that he propagated.
Right now the political left, and their RINO enablers are feeling pretty strong, and feel that the political right is weak. In their arrogance, and hubris they feel like they are arriving at the pinnacle of power where they will dictate how life is to be for all the infidels outside of their cliche.
This must have been what the British Army, politicians, and King must have felt like before the American Revolution put them in check. I am not advocating unrest, but pointing out that the human spirit is the hardest to kill as it is not mortal flesh that dies when a bullet pierces it. The lawfare that is being engaged in-in America at this period in time is only effective as long as there is a rule of law system. Once the public believes that this system no longer works removing a candidate’s name from a ballot will no longer be a viable weapon to use. There are a couple of different versions of this, and the one that I like is this: there are four boxes of liberty, the soap box, the ballot box, the jurors box, and the cartridge box. We in America are currently at the jurors box.
My grand parents lived during the depression, and after enduring this hardship along with four major wars (WW1, WW2, Korea, and Vietnam) that proceeded, and followed this period, they emerged into a time of great prosperity, and relative stability. Here we are about a hundred years later from the beginning of those mentioned times, and the war is now on our own shores. The current hardships, although different in context than those of my grandparents will too pass, and again the time that follows will have a different course than the current one.
Americans have become both metaphysically, and physically fat and lazy from having it to good for to long, and this current period in time is a wake up for all to pay attention, and to reclaim the birthright of being an American before it is to late. The behavior of the political left, and their RINO enablers is just part of this process and should be considered no more than potholes in what otherwise is a good road.
Did we all forget that Bellows was at one time the head of the Maine ACLU?
How insincere can her decision be to block Trump? And have we forgotten how fiercely the Democrats have pushed the voter disenfranchisement issue as if Republicans wanted to keep the left out of the voting booths?
Off Topic: The writing on the Maine Wire, and comments such as the long one from Mr. Collucci above, constitute a surprising and greatly needed step up from the uniformly leftist pablum from the rest of the current Maine publications and NPR.
Per Shenna Bellows past with the ACLU: she acted like a storm trooper to preserve and protect college student voting in Maine, even if they were not residents of Maine. She threatened to sue those who would enforce the law on the books talking to the issue. But she doesn’t want to allow Mainers to vote for Trump? In lib land, they call this “internal contradiction,” which is a euphemism for hypocrisy.
OK, lets simplify the upcoming election. Forget the names Trump and Biden. Just ask yourself this: would you like four more years of the policy climate from 2017 thru 2020, or four more years of the policy climate from 2021 thru 2024? Remember, choosing the latter means choosing energy dependence on foreign regimes, and a million or so uninvited guests entering our lands per quarter. And delivering bills for their living expenses, and the consequences of their presence, directly to your doorsteps.
There is no way to get around the reality that Trump scares the living crap out of the elite, established aristocracy in Washington, and the loyal swamp (administrative state) that does as they wish, in return for lifetime guaranteed employment and benefits in excess of the private sector. No one will be able to completely clean up the cancer in one or two terms, but the threat of someone who is not beholden to the machine, and who sees clearly into the inner workings, scares the bejeejus out of those who see their precious roles as lifelong privileges, with no obligation to those who pay them.
Susan Collins absolutely is NOT a shining example of a CONSERVATIVE Republican, even though she may be on the correct page here. She wets her finger in her mouth and holds it up to see which way the wind is blowing before she votes on any issue. Her eye is only on her next election. She is totally spineless and without a principled bone in her body. The Maine Republican party has a major problem. We need someone other than Collins who still believes in conservative ideas as she sure doesn’t. She is just another worthless democrat with an “R” after her name.
Maine is now a whackamole crazy state. You want something crazy, start it in Maine.
Pingree gets endorsed by the Communist Party USA every election cycle so it’s no surprise she likes her some tyranny.
Chellie, the useless Pol. from Snowfake country in Southern Maine.