Maine Petitioners Challenge Trump’s Election Eligibility

Two challenges filed with the state claim Trump action’s in relation to the Jan. 6 insurrection on the US Capitol bar him from taking office again.

Gordon wrote in his challenge that because Trump maintains that he won the 2020 election — a claim that has been widely disproven — he is ineligible to seek reelection because he has reached his two-term limit. I Photo: Maine Department of the Secretary of State

One challenge takes an alternativee approach: Since Trump maintains he won re-election in 2020, he is ineligible to seek a third term as president, Emma David reported for Maine Morning Star.

The Maine Secretary of State’s office received three challenges to block Trump’s participation in the state’s Republican primary on March 5, after announcing the candidates on Dec. 2.

A consolidated hearing on the three challenges is set for Friday. Lawyer Paul Gordon filed a challenge with the state based on the 22nd Amendment, which reads, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

Gordon wrote in his challenge that because Trump maintains that he won the 2020 election — a claim that has been widely disproven — he is ineligible to seek reelection because he has reached his two-term limit.

The other two challenges invoke reasoning that has been cited in challenges to Trump’s eligibility in other states involving the 14th Amendment.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits anyone who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding office in the US.

One of the challenges citing the 14th Amendment violation came from former elected officials in Maine: former Portland mayor Ethan Strimling (a Democrat) and former state Sens. Kimberley Rosen and Thomas Saviello (GOP.) The other challenge based on the 14th Amendment came from Winterport resident Mary Ann Royal.

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