Facing threats and withering criticism from Republicans and Democrats for her decision to keep former President Donald Trump off her state’s primary ballot, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows took to the airwaves Friday to defend her ruling.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Bellows about Trump sharing her office’s contact information on social media. Bellows acknowledged that she had received “threatening communications” in the day following her decision.
“I certainly worry about the safety of people I love, people around me, and people who are charged with protecting me and working alongside me,” Bellows added.
The Maine official said that she had been prepared for possible threats to her safety when she ruled on the case. “I really appreciate law enforcement and the people around me who have been incredibly supportive of my safety and security,” Bellows said.
Maine law gives the secretary of state the responsibility to adjudicate challenges to Trump’s eligibility to run for president. Bellows ruled on Thursday that the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone from holding the office who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the government, barred Trump from running for re-election.
The secretary has also faced backlash from across the aisle, with some Democrats arguing that the best way to defeat Trump is by beating him in next November’s election, not by judicial rulings preventing him from running in the first place. Three of Maine’s four Congressional leaders, including Democratic Representative Jared Golden and independent Senator Angus King, have come out against the ruling.
Bellows argued that such considerations shouldn’t have affected her decision about Trump’s eligibility. “I do not have the discretion to choose, or decline to do my duty,” she said in an interview with Politico. “The legislature did not write into the law an exception for complexity or difficult natures of interpretation,” she added. “They didn’t say enforce all of the constitutional qualifications except for the ones that are difficult or complex.”
Bellows said that her decision to bar Trump was akin to other ways a secretary of state might remove a candidate from a ballot, such as in early December to disqualify New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for failing to secure enough signatures.
“I don’t have the right to place on the ballot someone who does not meet the age requirements; if a teenager sought to run for president in Maine, I would have to deny them ballot access,” she said. “The constitutional qualifications for ballot access are not a menu. I do not have the discretion to choose which of those I enforce or do not.”
The matter is likely headed to the nation’s highest court, as other states, such as Michigan, Minnesota, and California, have decided to keep Trump on the ballot, creating a mess of contradictory rulings. Bellows said Friday that she would “welcome the Supreme Court weighing in” on the matter.
