California secretary of state keeps Trump on ballot as Dems call for his removal

California’s secretary of state has decided to keep former President Donald Trump on the state’s presidential primary ballot as other states are disqualifying him based on the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

For his actions in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump has been disqualified by two states, Colorado and Maine, with the former temporarily reversing its decision pending a ruling from the Supreme Court on the matter. On Thursday, California’s Democratic Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, announced the state’s presidential primary ballot with Trump included.

After the Colorado decision, Democratic Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis of California, who is running for governor in 2026, wrote a public letter to Weber asking her to explore every legal option to disqualify Trump from the ballot. Weber later responded to Kounalakis’ letter, writing that she is “a steward of free and fair elections and the democratic process,” though she did not indicate her decision at the time.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber placed Donald Trump on the state’s 2024 GOP primary ballot on the same night Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows boots him. pic.twitter.com/R8bpqDHLzf

— Grant Stern  (@grantstern) December 29, 2023

Other states that have considered the question of Trump’s presence on the state ballot, such as Michigan and New Hampshire, have declined to disqualify Trump from the state ballot. Trump is the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and is currently leading President Joe Biden, the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, in multiple polls.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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