Maine’s top electoral official has barred former U.S Donald Trump from running in the state’s presidential primary, making the state the second to do so for allegedly engaging in insurrection by attempting to overthrow the 2020 election.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, concluded that Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, incited an insurrection by spreading false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election and then calling on supporters to march on the Capitol to prevent lawmakers from certifying the vote.
The decision can be appealed to a state Superior Court, and Bellows suspended her ruling until the court rules on the matter.
Trump’s campaign said it would quickly file an objection to the “atrocious” decision.
Lawyers for Trump have disputed that he engaged in insurrection and argued that his remarks to supporters on the day of the 2021 riot were protected by his right to free speech.
The judgment came after a group of former Maine senators claimed Trump should be disqualified under a section of the United States Constitution that prohibits persons from holding office if they engage in “insurrection or rebellion” after swearing an oath to the United States.
Kimberley Rosen, Thomas Saviello, and Ethan Strimling, the former lawmakers, said in a statement that Bellows “stood on the side of democracy and our constitution in her decision to bar Former President Donald Trump from Maine’s ballot.”
