Three Maine politicians, including the former mayor of the state’s largest city, are behind one of the complaints that prompted a single Democratic official to deem former President Donald Trump ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows determined Thursday that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a Civil War era addition to the Constitution which restricts individuals who took an oath to the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” from holding office, bars
Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot. Her ruling was in response to three complaints challenging his eligibility, including one filed by local politicians Kimberley Rosen, Thomas Saviello and Ethan Strimling.
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Strimling was the mayor of Portland, Maine, from 2015 to 2019. He was also a Democratic state senator from 2002-2008. After overwhelmingly losing reelection, Strimling became active in the Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, according to The Nation. He filed the complaint to remove Trump from the ballot with Saviello and Rosen in December.
“Look, we all know that Trump is an extremely dangerous white supremacist demagogue,” Strimling wrote in a Dec. 13 column for the Maine Beacon. “When you speak to Republican leaders across the state, even they will whisper as much.”
“But whatever his politics — progressive, centrist, or alt-right fascist — no candidate who has sworn to uphold our constitution, who then becomes a traitor to the same, should ever be allowed to take office again,” Strimling continued.
Strimling sent a fundraising email in response to Bellows’ ruling Thursday to solicit donations for his nonprofit, which does not appear to be active, according to The Maine Wire.
Rosen served as a Republican state senator from 2014 to 2022. Before that, she served in the state’s House of Representatives from 2004 to 2012, according to Ballotpedia.
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Saviello was a Republican state senator from 2010 to 2018. Previously, he was an Independent and Democratic member of the state House from 2002 to 2010, according to Ballotpedia.
He donated a total of $1,000 to Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden’s campaign between 2018 and 2022, according to Federal Election Commission data. He also helped Democratic Gov. Janet Mills raise money for her campaign in 2017, according to The Bangor Daily News.
“Nobody I see on the Republican side right now floats my boat,” Saviello said at the time, according to the outlet.
The three politicians’ complaint states that Trump “desecrated” his oath to protect the Constitution.
“The Constitution commands that, having sworn an oath to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ it, and then having desecrated that oath by directing a violent mob to storm the Capitol while Congress was performing a core constitutional function essential to the transition of power, Trump is ineligible to hold any office under the United States, least of all the office of President,” the challenge stated, according to Boston-based outlet WBUR.
Two other challenges were filed in Maine seeking to remove Trump, including one by Winterport voter Mary Ann Royal and another by Portland attorney Paul Gordon.
Gordon’s complaint alleged Trump should be barred from office under the 22nd Amendment setting a two-term limit for presidents, according to the ruling.
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