California’s secretary of state has certified former US President Donald Trump for the state’s presidential primary ballot, despite calls from the lieutenant governor and top Democrats to remove him because of his involvement with the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
Dr Shirley N Weber released the list of candidates for the March 5, 2024, primary election on Thursday, shortly after Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced her decision that Trump is not eligible for the ballot in her state.
Weber’s decision might not be entirely surprising given her reply to an open letter from California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis asking that the secretary of state “explore every legal option” to remove Trump from the ballot given a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that he is ineligible.
Weber, a Democrat, said she was aware of Colorado’s ruling and the stay placed on it until January 4, 2024, and that due to Trump’s conduct “it is more critical than ever to safeguard elections in a way that transcends political divisions,” Weber wrote on December 22.
But she also wrote: “Removing a candidate from the ballot under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment is not something my office takes lightly and is not as simple as the requirement that a person be at least 35 years old to be president.”
Other efforts to remove Trump from the ballot in California include a request from state Assembly Democrats to Attorney General Rob Bonta, and at least one lawsuit which was voluntarily dismissed.
California Governor Gavin Newsom spoke out last week against his fellow Democrats expending their energy on trying to get Trump booted from the ballot ahead of any US Supreme Court decision on the matter.
“There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a threat to our liberties and even to our democracy. But in California, we defeat candidates at the polls. Everything else is a political distraction,” Newsom said, according to Politico.
The December 19 Colorado Supreme Court decision that Trump is disqualified from running for president under the 14th Amendment further opened the floodgates for a national effort to strike Trump from state ballots.
Various parties have asked the US Supreme Court to take up and expedite a review of the case.