Rep. Jared Golden represents a competitive House district that Trump won in 2016 and 2020.
A Maine Democrat who represents the state’s competitive House district has joined Republicans in criticizing the secretary of state’s decision to remove former President Donald Trump from Maine’s ballot.
“I voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the January 6th Insurrection. I do not believe he should be re-elected as President of the United States,” Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) said in a statement posted to social media shortly after the ruling Thursday night. “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.”
It’s not the first time Golden, a Blue Dog Democrat who represents a district Trump won in the 2016 and 2020 elections, has bucked his party. Since he was elected in 2018, Golden has been one of the few House Democrats to support gun rights. He was also the sole Democrat to vote against President Joe Biden’s signature Build Back Better infrastructure package and has regularly voted against other marquee pieces of legislation, such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
But the responses to efforts across the country to remove Trump from state ballots in light of the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause have split largely along partisan lines. Republicans have widely panned efforts to remove Trump from the ballot in Maine and other states as undemocratic.
Democrats, including in Maine, have largely united in their support for removing Trump. The other member of Maine’s House delegation, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), posted on social media shortly after the decision that “[the] text of the Fourteenth Amendment is clear. No person who engaged in an insurrection against the government can ever again serve in elected office.”
Maine on Thursday became the second state to remove Trump from the ballot in two weeks. The Colorado Supreme Court also ruled he is ineligible to hold office because his conduct during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 rose to the level of insurrection.
Three states, including California on Thursday, have allowed Trump to remain on the ballot.
