Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL.) mulled the idea of taking President Joe Biden off of his state's 2024 primary ballot after the Colorado Supreme Court kicked former President Trump from its 2024 GOP primary ballot.
"There was no trial on any of this,” DeSantis said. “They basically just said, what, you can’t be on the ballot? I mean, how does that work?”
DeSantis said the ruling has no “limiting principle” and that other states could remove Biden for "constitutional violations" if Colorado could do it.
“Could we just say that Biden can’t be on the ballot because he let in 8 million illegals into the country and violated the constitution, which he has?” DeSantis continued. “Can we just say, oh, well, they have money coming to Hunter [Biden]?”
The governor called it unfair and accused the Colorado Supreme Court of abusing its power.
"They’re doing all this stuff to basically solidify support in the primary for [Trump], get him into the general, and the whole general election is going to be all this legal stuff," he said, adding, "I think they have a playbook that unfortunately will work. It will give Biden, or the Democrat or whoever, the ability to skate through this thing. That’s their plan. That’s what they want.”
BREAKING: Ron DeSantis reacts to Colorado Supreme Court ruling at a campaign event this morning
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) December 20, 2023
"There was no trial on any of this! [...] Could we just say that Biden can't be on the ballot because he let in 8 million illegals into the country, and violated the Constitution?" pic.twitter.com/JTdWPHZvNz
GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy vowed to withdraw from the Colorado state primary if Trump is not allowed on the ballot.
He called the ruling a true “attack on democracy,” saying it is the latest "election interference tactic to silence political opponents and swing the election for whatever puppet the Democrats put up this time by depriving Americans of the right to vote for their candidate of choice."
This is what an *actual* attack on democracy looks like: in an un-American, unconstitutional, and *unprecedented* decision, a cabal of Democrat judges are barring Trump from the ballot in Colorado. Having tried every trick in the book to eliminate President Trump from running in…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 19, 2023
However, on the contrary, DeSantis said he won't follow in Ramaswamy's lead and withdraw from the Colorado ballot.
“I think the case will get overturned by the Supreme Court, but I’ve qualified for all the ballots. I’m competing in all the states, and I’m going to accumulate the delegates necessary," DeSantis said.
In addition, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX.) also floated the consideration of removing Biden from his state’s presidential ballot.
Patrick cited Biden’s poor handling of the southern border and allowing over eight million illegal migrants to enter the U.S. as a reason to remove the president from his state’s ballot.
“Seeing what happened in Colorado [Tuesday night] makes me think — except we believe in democracy in Texas — maybe we should take Joe Biden off the ballot in Texas for allowing 8 million people to cross the border since he’s been president, disrupting our state far more than anything anyone else has done in recent history,” Patrick said in an interview with Fox News.
The Texas Republican said he has filed another bill to deal with the country’s impending human smuggling problem that has been expedited under Biden because the “Biden administration is doing nothing.”
Earlier this week, another record for illegal migrant crossings in a single day was broken along the southern border, with more than 12,000 illegals encountered at the U.S. border.
Fox News reported that there have been over 12,600 crossings in total, comprised of 11,000 apprehensions and more than 1,600 encountered at ports of entry. Thousands more remain at a processing center in Del Rio, Texas, following a surge of crossings at Eagle Pass. Detainment facilities are at more than 260 percent capacity. Sources say that border agents are operating under a ratio of 200:1.
Similarly, Republican candidate for Congress (FL-11), Anthony Sabatini, also called for Biden’s removal from his state's ballot.
REMOVE BIDEN FROM THE FLORIDA BALLOT NOW!
— Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) December 19, 2023
In a 4-3 ruling, the Denver District Court conducted a five-day trial and found “clear and convincing” evidence that Trump engaged in insurrection as defined in Section Three. The Supreme Court ruled that the 45th president is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three, making it a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.
Trump’s campaign team has vowed to appeal the ruling. Trump appointed three members of Colorado’s six-member Supreme Court conservative majority.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member