Democrat Congressman speaks out against Trump being disqualified from Maine ballot

Congressman Jared Golden, D-Maine, said on Thursday that former President Donald Trump should be on the 2024 ballot since he hasn't been found guilty of the crime of insurrection.

"I voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the January 6th insurrection," Golden wrote in a statement shared to X. "I do not believe he should be reelected as president of the United States. 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."  

Former President Donald Trump was removed from Maine's primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause.

The decision was made by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, whom Trump's legal team requested be disqualified from ruling whether or not Trump is eligible for the 2024 ballot. 

In other states, plaintiffs have sued regarding Trump’s eligibility, but in Maine, the Secretary of State first weighs in and the decision can be challenged in court.

Maine has only four electoral votes but it’s one of two states to split them, and Trump won one of Maine's electors in 2020.

Trump plans to appeal the Maine decision, his spokesman Steven Cheung said.

“Democrats in blue states are recklessly and un-Constitutionally suspending the civil rights of the American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump’s name from the ballot,” Cheung said in a statement. “Make no mistake, these partisan election interference efforts are a hostile assault on American democracy.”