Former President Trump will run in California’s presidential election on March 5, despite calls from some officials to disqualify him because

his role

the January 6 uprising.

Trump’s name was included on the certified list of candidates sent to county election officials Thursday as they prepare to print primary ballots.

The decision from the office of Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, a Democrat

which who

is overseeing elections in the state, after some officials, including Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis had called on Weber to disqualify Trump from the vote. Earlier Thursday, Maine’s secretary of state removed Trump from the state’s primary, citing:

that he has violated

the 14th Amendment, which bans from office those “engaged in insurrection.”

The Colorado Supreme Court

decided

in a 4-3

The prevailing vote to disqualify was also disqualified

Trump out of state’s primary ballot. The Republican Party of Colorado has appealed this ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which may be the final decider on the issue.

California has 169 GOP delegates, the most of any state in the country. Polls show that Trump has a wide lead in the primaries

the A

A November survey by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies shows he has support from 57% of likely Republican voters in the state.

The

The Republican Party of California changed its rules over the summer, allowing anyone who received more than 50% of the vote in the primary to receive all 169 delegates.

In a December 20 letter, Kounalakis urged Weber to “explore every legal option” to remove Trump from the ballot.

“The Constitution is clear: you must be 35 years old and not an insurrectionist,” wrote Kounalakis, a Democrat running for governor in 2026.

In September, nine California state legislators, led by Silicon Valley Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low, wrote a letter to Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta asks his office to ask the court whether Trump can appear on the primary ballot. Bonta has not responded to the group’s letter since last week.

But Gov. Gavin Newsom last week threw cold water on any effort to disqualify Trump from the ballot.

There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a threat to our freedoms and even our democracy, Newsom said in a statement Friday. But in California, we defeat candidates in elections. Everything else is a political distraction.

In her December response to Kounalakis, Weber said that removing Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment “is not something my office takes lightly and is not as simple as requiring someone to be at least 35 years old to to become president.”

She also noted that her office is involved in multiple lawsuits over Trump’s appearance on the ballot.

Weber’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Times writers Noah Bierman and James Rainey and the Associated Press contributed to this report.