Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he is standing in solidarity with former President Donald Trump after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump is ineligible to be on the 2024 primary election ballot due to his role in the attacks on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot," Ramaswamy said in a video statement.
Ramaswamy also called on fellow presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis to follow his lead.
Haley has not appeared to publicly comment on Ramaswamy's challenge. However, she did criticize the Colorado Supreme Court for its decision.
"I will tell you that I don’t think Donald Trump needs to be president. I think I need to be president. I think that’s good for the country," Haley told reporters in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register. "But I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions."
Colorado Supreme Court declares Trump ineligible for presidency
The ruling is the first time that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been successfully used to disqualify a candidate. Legal challenges are expected.
Without addressing Ramaswamy's pledge, DeSantis was also critical of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision
"The Left invokes 'democracy' to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds," DeSantis said. "SCOTUS should reverse."
Chris Christie, who is also vying for the Republican nomination for president, was equally critical of the court's decision.
"Donald Trump should not be prevented from being President by any court," the former New Jersey governor said. "He should be prevented from being President of the United States by the voters of this country."
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign said they would be appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Officials in Colorado said they need guidance from the courts by Jan. 5 because that's the deadline to print ballots for the primary, which is scheduled for March 5.
