A Republican state legislator in Maine is attempting to impeach the secretary of state for Maine for removing former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot.
Following her disqualification of Trump from the Republican primary ballot for 2024 on Thursday, GOP state representative John Andrews declared his intention to seek Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ impeachment.
Bellows invoked U.S. Constitutional Section 3(a)—which bars anybody who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office—in her decision.
In an announcement, Andrews announced that he had submitted a request to the Maine Revisor’s Office, stating that he intended “to file a Joint Order, or whichever is the proper parliamentary mechanism under Mason’s Rules, to impeach Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.”
“The Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Treasurer are not elected by the people in Maine,” Andrews said to Fox News Digital. “They are chosen by elected Democrat Party insiders after deals are made in the back room of State House.”
“Shenna Bellows knows that the process that put her there is extremely partisan,” he went on to say. “She should know better and be going out of her way to be as neutral as possible to serve every citizen in Maine and not just registered Democrats.”
“That’s why she swore an oath to the Constitution and not the Democrat Party,” he said. “We are still a republic, but moves like this fracture that foundation, which ultimately is the point of all this.”
In his statement, Andrews declared his intention to impeach Bellows “because she is preventing an American citizen and the 45th President of the United States—who has not been found guilty of any crime or subject to impeachment—from participating in a Maine Republican Party ballot in March.”
“Donald J. Trump is eligible to participate in the Republican Presidential Primary in March 2024. I think he ought to be able to vote. He went on, “This is pure politics, and it has no place in the offices of our state’s constitutional officers.
A social media post by Andrews was mentioned in a press release, stating that Bellows’ choice “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,” Andrews stated. “Banana Republic isn’t just a store at the mall.”
Speaking on “FOX & Friends” on Friday, Andrews claimed that Bellows “has unilaterally disenfranchised 300,060 Maine voters with this partisan move.”
He also praised Maine Democrat U.S. Representative Jared Golden for opposing Bellows’ action despite his disapproval of Trump.
Bellows was roundly criticized by Golden, who declared that he “voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the January 6th Insurrection.”
On Thursday night, Golden declared, “I do not think he should be re-elected as President of the United States.” “However, we are a nation of laws, therefore until he is found guilty of the crime of insurrection, he should be allowed on the ballot.”
In response to Golden’s criticism, the secretary of state for Maine defended her action in a CNN interview on Friday.
“I reviewed Section Three of the 14th Amendment very carefully and determined that Section Three of the 14th Amendment does not say ‘conviction,’ it says ‘engage,'” said Bellows.
“And, let’s go back and keep in mind that the events of January 6, 2021, were unprecedented and tragic,” Bellows went on. “This was an attack, not only on the Capitol and the government officials, the former vice president, members of Congress, but an attack on the rule of law.”
“And the weight of evidence that I reviewed indicated that it was, in fact, an insurrection,” she said. “And Mr. Trump engaged in that insurrection under Section Three of the 14th Amendment.”
Citing a provision in the U.S. Constitution that prohibits anybody who has “engaged in insurrection” from standing for public office without the consent of two-thirds of Congress, Bellows made the unexpected ruling on Thursday night that Trump was disqualified for the state’s 2024 primary ballot.
Originally, the clause was intended to prevent former Confederate commanders and soldiers from being employed by the US military or government.
It was also mentioned by the top court in Colorado, which barred Trump from the state’s primary ballot in a 4-3 decision last week. The Colorado GOP disputed the ruling, igniting a legal dispute that would ultimately reach the US Supreme Court.