AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine House of Representatives on Tuesday defeated a Republican effort to impeach Secretary of State Shenna Bellows over her decision to rule former President Donald Trump ineligible for the Republican primary ballot.
Rep. John Andrews, R-Paris, introduced the impeachment resolution last week and asked a special House investigative committee to review allegations of “misconduct” by Bellows, a Democrat, including “the failure to recuse herself for bias” for overseeing three challenges to Trump’s eligibility after serving as an elector for President Joe Biden during the 2020 election.
Want the latest political news? Subscribers of Pocket Politics get breaking news and analysis on their phones before the stories go anywhere else. Text POLITICS to 207-288-7412 to get in. First two weeks are free, $3.99/month after that. Cancel any time. All links to the site are free.
But the effort was never likely to succeed in the Democratic-controlled Legislature. A two-thirds vote in the Senate would have been required to remove the secretary of state from office. The House voted 80-60 on Tuesday to ensure its defeat.
“I was heartened that a majority of the Legislature recognized that this order was not the appropriate process,” Bellows told reporters in an impromptu news conference after the vote.
Bellows became the country’s first secretary of state to rule Trump ineligible for the 2024 presidential primary after finding he violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits a person who engaged in insurrection from holding office. Bellows said in her Dec. 28 ruling that Trump incited the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a conclusion the Colorado Supreme Court also reached a week before the Maine decision.
Trump has appealed the Maine ruling to the Superior Court and the Colorado decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, also asking the Maine court to pause its consideration of the case until the Supreme Court issues a ruling. His name will still appear on primary ballots Maine sends to military and overseas voters starting Jan. 20 ahead of the March 5 primary, given deadlines in the legal cases.
The Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta is expected to rule by Jan. 17 on Trump’s appeal. That ruling could then be appealed within three days to the Supreme Judicial Court, which must issue a final decision within 14 days. The U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral arguments Feb. 8 in the Colorado case. Trump’s attorneys have asked the Maine court to pause its consideration of the case until the Supreme Court issues its ruling.
Last week, Bellows had called the impeachment attempt a political attack. The last impeachment effort in Maine was against then-Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, and failed in 2016.
Numerous Republican lawmakers reiterated criticism Tuesday that they and Trump have already leveled at Bellows since her December ruling.
“She’s found someone guilty without a formal charge or court proceeding and issued her sentence,” Rep. Jim Thorne, R-Carmel, said.
Democrats in the House defended Bellows by noting she was required under state law to consider and rule on the three challenges to Trump’s eligibility, including one challenge from a bipartisan group of former elected officials.
“We should not punish her by removing her from office for simply doing her job,” Rep. Kevin O’Connell, D-Brewer, said.
