PORTLAND, Maine — It was another busy week of politics in Maine and across the country. From our interview with Gov. Janet Mills on the Lewiston shootings to the efforts to get Trump off the ballot, our political analysts weighed in on the top political stories of the week.
Gov. Mills on guns
NEWS CENTER Maine aired an exclusive on-camera interview with Gov. Mills this week on the Lewiston tragedy. She talked about everything from how the shootings impacted her personally to the ongoing investigation and guns. Zach Blanchard specifically asked Mills if Maine's yellow flag law failed. He also asked if she had changed her stance on strengthening gun laws. Mills said that "everything" was on the table and did not rule out a potential assault weapons ban.
ETHAN: "You know, when Connecticut happened, Sandy Hook happened, Governor Malloy, at that time, within four months had passed a broad range of legislation. We are now today, about two months after what happened and Janet Mills has proposed nothing. We already know what works. We know assault weapons bans work. We know that background checks work. We know red flag laws work. We know that waiting periods work. There is no more need for study. Over 40 people this year have been shot in mass shootings, not simply Lewiston. Remember, Westbrook, Yarmouth, 40 people shot. It's time for the governor to take a lead on this and propose serious legislation as soon as the new year starts."
RAY: "Yeah, I'm I'm going to disagree with my friend Ethan on that. I'm not certain that those things are going to work. I mean, we see this happen all over the country all the time. What I'm hoping happens and I've said this repeatedly to everybody on both sides of this, let's wait until former Chief Justice John Wathen has completed what he's doing. We need some answers. Why in the world was Mr. Card released from the mental health facility in New York? We still don't have clear answers on that. There's a whole lot of stuff. What we usually do in America is knee-jerk everything because it's politically advantageous. And this is going to be twice now on the same morning. I'm glad the governor is taking a cautious approach here."
Trump ballot fight
Former President Donald Trump has been disqualified from Colorado's 2024 primary ballot by the state's Supreme Court. The court declared that Trump is ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution's Insurrection Clause. This is the first time in U.S. history that Section three of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.
RAY: "I think it was terrible. What they did was a 4-3 decision in Colorado. What the Colorado Supreme Court essentially did is something we don't believe in in this country. They were judge, jury, and executioner, except the person they went after was never charged with a crime. I mean, Jack Smith, he'd charge him with eating a ham sandwich, if he could get away with it."
ZACH: "I want to be very transparent here. Ethan, you are behind the efforts here to get Trump off of the Maine ballot. The secretary of state is set to announce her decision next week. You really think this is going to happen?"
ETHAN: "Well, I don't know what Secretary Bellows is going to do. Obviously, the Colorado decision was monumental. They made the right decision. Look, everybody, you just have to look at it to know that he committed insurrection. And Ray, just to correct one point, he has now by two courts been found guilty of insurrection. Two courts have now said, yes, he committed insurrection."
Haley gains momentum
Nikki Haley is gaining ground on Trump in New Hampshire. According to a new Saint Anselm College poll, Haley has doubled her support in the Granite State. The former U.N. ambassador, now sits at 30 percent support, up from 15 percent from September. Former President Trump remains the front runner with 44 percent support of Republican likely New Hampshire primary voters.
ZACH: "Ethan, we don't put a ton of weight in these polls these days, but if that's legit, this is a big deal, following her endorsement, of course, from Governor Sununu."
ETHAN: "Yeah, look, it's a big deal in the sense that she's probably going to come in second in Iowa. I predict actually she will win New Hampshire, but then she's going to lose Nevada. She might do okay in South Carolina maybe. And then it's all going to fall apart. Right? This is the same kind of thing that John McCain might have had. You know, you have somebody who rises up like this and then, of course, everything falls apart. Donald Trump has the full support of the party, has all of the money, etc.. She just doesn't have the resources. New Hampshire likes to be quirky. We know that they like to sort of throw their weight behind somebody. They don't sometimes, and then that person often flames out in the end."
RAY: "I mean, it's not surprising she's risen in the New Hampshire polls, Chris Sununu won with, I think, 68 percent of the vote, he's a very popular governor. They begged him to run again and he chose not to. We'll see. I said earlier this week, if she's within three or four points in New Hampshire on primary day, January 23rd, I think she gets some momentum. I think she'll get some money coming in. People say there might be a crack in Trump's wall. I think Trump's got the nomination barring something we don't know about. But the media likes to make this fun and this is going to make it fun."
You can watch Political Brew every Sunday on The Morning Report at 6 a.m. You can also catch it any time on NEWS CENTER Maine+.