California Secretary of State Shirley Weber opted not to remove former President Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary ballot, breaking from recent actions in Colorado and Maine.
Weber certified the candidates list for the primary, to be held on March 5, 2024, with Trump's name among the nine Republicans who will appear on the ballot for the GOP primary in the Golden State. The former president will appear on the California ballot despite a growing movement of Democrats determining the former president is ineligible to run for office, claiming he violated the 14th Amendment.
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California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis sent Weber a letter last week urging her to "explore every legal option to remove former President Donald Trump from California's 2024 presidential primary ballot," citing a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that removed him from the primary ballot, accusing him of committing acts of insurrection, therefore disqualifying him under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
In response to Kounalakis's request, Weber issued a response that any action she takes to remove or add a candidate to the ballot must "be grounded firmly in the laws and processes in place in California and our Constitution." Weber did not issue a statement with the release of the certified candidates list.
Another candidate included on the California primary ballot after some controversy was Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong, who is seeking to fill the seat held by outgoing Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Fong was originally barred from the ballot because he had already filed for reelection to the state assembly, and the California election code states a candidate may not run for two separate offices on the same ballot. He filed a lawsuit to overturn the decision, and a Sacramento County Superior Court judge ruled in his favor on Thursday.
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The decision came the same night Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows ruled that Trump was ineligible to be president and removed him from the state's primary ballot.
The Trump campaign said it would appeal the Maine decision, and the Colorado GOP has already appealed the Colorado decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.