AUGUSTA, Maine — Former President Donald Trump will not be in Maine’s capital on Friday morning, but his campaign will be for a hearing to fight three challenges aiming to keep him off the 2024 ballot.
They are tied to a progressive movement aimed at disqualifying the Republican from running again for the White House due to his role in the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021. Similar challenges have been filed in dozens of states. None of them have succeeded elsewhere so far, placing these efforts firmly in the longshot category.
The politician at the heart of the debate, the Maine personalities involved and the stakes involved in the hearing will make for interesting viewing. It happens in front of Secretary of State Shenna Bellows at 10 a.m. on Friday.
Here’s how to watch and what you need to know.
What are the arguments?
Trump was the first of six Republican candidates to file for Maine’s Republican presidential primary, which will take place on March 5, 2024.
The most notable challenge comes from three Maine politicians: former Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling and former state Sens. Kim Rosen, R-Bucksport, and Tom Saviello of Wilton, who served in Augusta most recently as a Republican but is now an independent.
They argue that Trump should be barred for inciting the riots under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” against the U.S. from holding office. If that was true, the former president’s declaration that he meets the qualifications for Maine’s ballot would be false. Under state law, Bellows would then have to disqualify him.
Another challenge from Mary-Anne Royal of Winterport makes a similar argument. The third one, from Paul Gordon of Portland, is more tongue in cheek, noting Trump’s false insistence that he won the 2020 election over President Joe Biden. If Trump won, Gordon notes that he would not be able to be elected for a third time due to term limits.
How have courts ruled so far on these questions?
Seven challenges have been turned back by judges, according to ABC News. One of the central issues is that this part of 14th Amendment has been rarely used aside from its original purpose: to disqualify former Confederates from the U.S. government after the Civil War.
Perhaps the most notable state to deal with Trump so far is Colorado, where a judge ruled in November that the former president had engaged in an insurrection but that the 14th Amendment does not apply to the president. The state’s all-Democratic high court considered the case last week, with many justices taking a skeptical view of the challenge.
There will be opportunities for other states to rule on challenges over the next few months and even into the general election season, but judges generally look wary to wade into electoral politics here.
Who will the main players be on Friday?
Strimling, Rosen and Saviello will be represented by lawyers Benjamin Gaines and Jamie Kilbreth. Both of those lawyers have been involved in political cases before, with the latter representing U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine’s 2nd District, during challenges to his 2018 ranked-choice voting win over former Rep. Bruce Poliquin.
Lawyer Benjamin Hartwell is representing Trump’s campaign. He is a former Gorham town councilor who got attention last year when his name was found on a leaked membership list of the far-right Oath Keepers, a group tied to the Capitol riots. Hartwell said then that he joined the organization briefly nine years ago and never met any other members.
The hearing will give others a chance to rally for or against Trump. For example, state Rep. Mike Soboleski of Phillips, one of two Republicans vying to face Golden next year, said in a statement that he will speak in support of Trump at the hearing, calling the case against the former president “flimsy at best and obstructionist at worst.”
What is the process that follows the hearing?
Bellows, a Democrat, will preside over a consolidated hearing in which all the challenges will be heard together. She will have until Dec. 22 to issue a ruling in consultation with state lawyers. That decision could then be appealed to state courts.
The secretary of state is a progressive Democrat who is widely seen as a future candidate for high office. She has been exceedingly careful in discussing Trump’s eligibility for the ballot over the last few months, saying the law and not politics will drive her decisions.
“We’re being very careful to not engage in speculation about a particular candidate,” Bellows told MSNBC in September. “We’ll make those evaluations when they’re properly presented to us.”
