Massie: House May Not Certify Electors From States Blocking Trump From Ballot

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has warned states that are blocking former president and current GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump that the House of Representatives will make the ultimate decision on whether to certify the state’s electors.

The Colorado Supreme Court blocked Trump from the state’s ballot last week, claiming that he had engaged in an “insurrection” despite him not being convicted of any such crimes. Following that decision, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows issued a similar ruling, removing Trump from Maine’s ballot as well. Both the Colorado Supreme Court and Bellows claimed that the 14th Amendment barred Trump from being eligible for office, despite evidence proving that Trump had not engaged in an insurrection during the January 6 Capitol protests, and instead had asked protesters to demonstrate “peacefully and patriotically.”

Massie responded to Colorado and Maine disenfranchising Trump supporters in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, where he pointed out that the House of Representatives has the ability to certify or not certify the electors of each state — likely alluding to the fact that the House could refuse to certify electors from states that violate both Trump’s right to run for office and the voters’ right to choose their president.

“Maine, Colorado, and other states that might try to bureaucratically deny ballot access to any Republican nominee should remember the U.S. House of Representatives is the ultimate arbiter of whether to certify electors from those states,” Massie wrote in a Friday post.

Massie received several poignant responses to his post, including from popular X account “@amuse,” who declared: “I say let all Democrat-controlled states remove Trump from the ballot and have the House refuse to certify votes from those states.”

“That’s a good point. Let’s say these states succeed in keeping the opposition leader off the ballot. Should Congress certify such a fraudulent election? Of course not,” another user wrote.

X owner Elon Musk also replied to Massie’s post, writing: “Interesting.”

Trump and his legal team have vowed to appeal the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling and Bellows’ decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, as both rulings provided him a short window to file an appeal before the states’ ballots are printed.