The state of Maine stunned the nation when they announced Trump wouldn’t be on the ballot for 2024. The reason why is unreal.
And now shocking details about Trump on the Maine ballot for the 2024 election have been uncovered.
A former mayor of Maine’s biggest city and two other politicians are involved in the controversy that led one Democratic official to rule that former president Donald Trump could not be on the ballot in Maine.
Trump cannot be included on the ballot in the state, according to Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ ruling on Thursday. This decision is based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was added during the Civil War and prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” after taking an oath to the Constitution from holding public office. Three people, including local lawmakers Ethan Strimling, Thomas Saviello, and Kimberley Rosen, challenged his eligibility, and her decision was in reaction to all three.
For the years 2015–2019, Strimling presided over Portland, Maine as its mayor. From 2002 until 2008, he served as a state senator for the Democratic Party. Strimling, as reported by The Nation, became involved with the Democratic Socialists of America in Maine after his reelection loss. Along with Saviello and Rosen, he filed the case in December seeking to have Trump removed from the ballot.
“Look, we all know that Trump is an extremely dangerous white supremacist demagogue,” Strimling said in an editorial for the Maine Beacon. “Even Republican leaders across the state will whisper as much” when you chat with them, Strimling claimed.
According to Strimling, regardless of a candidate’s political leanings, it is unacceptable for them to have pledged to protect our constitution but then later betray it. This holds true regardless of whether they are progressive, moderate, or an alt-right fascist.
In light of Bellows’ decision on Thursday, Strimling allegedly reached out to donors via email to raise money for his inactive charity, which does not seem to be doing anything, as reported by The Maine Wire.
Republican Rosen was a state lawmaker from 2014 to 2022. According to Ballotpedia, her previous experience is from 2004–2012 when she was a member of the state’s House of Representatives.
From 2010 till 2018, Saviello served as a Republican state senator. Ballotpedia states that from 2002 to 2010, he served in the Louisiana House of Representatives as an Independent and Democrat.
The Federal Election Commission records show that from 2018 to 2022, he gave $1,000 to the campaign of Democratic Maine Representative Jared Golden. As reported by The Bangor Daily News, he was also instrumental in helping Democratic Gov. Janet Mills gather campaign funds in 2017.
Based on what Saviello remarked at the time, “Nobody I see on the Republican side right now floats my boat,” as reported by the source.
According to the three lawmakers’ lawsuit, Trump “desecrated” his pledge to defend the Constitution.
The challengers argued that Trump should not be eligible to hold any office in the United States, especially the presidency, because he had violated his oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution by ordering a mob to storm the Capitol during a crucial constitutional function that Congress was carrying out, according to WBUR, a Boston-based news outlet.
Of course, it should be noted that Donald Trump has not been found guilty of trying to form an insurrection by any legal authority in the United States.
Maine residents Mary Ann Royal of Winterport and Paul Gordon of Portland both filed challenges in an effort to have Trump removed from office.
The verdict states that the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two terms in office, should be invoked to ban Trump from office, as asserted in Gordon’s case.
It appears, more than anything else, that this decision by the State of Maine was made in an oligarchical fashion where just a few of the political elites in the state decided to make a decision that could alter the future of the entire nation.
The Conservative Column will be updating our readers on the 2024 election cycle as it develops.
