AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine House of Representatives censured without debate Thursday two Republicans who claimed the Lewiston mass shooting was God’s response to an abortion law that took effect the same day as the Oct. 25 rampage.
The House required a two-thirds majority to agree to censure Reps. Michael Lemelin, R-Chelsea, and Shelley Rudnicki, R-Fairfield, but the chamber approved the resolutions censuring the two members without roll calls.
Lemelin and Rudnicki then rose to each read similar apologies that said they accept “full responsibility” for their remarks.
The only higher penalty members can face is removal, which also requires a two-thirds majority under House rules. Thursday’s censure votes came as the state commission investigating the Lewiston mass shooting was also holding a meeting at the University of Maine at Augusta.
House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, told the two earlier Thursday they would be barred from speaking or voting under chamber rules governing decorum until they apologized from the floor and in writing for their remarks.
The rare reprimand came after Lemelin, a second-term legislator representing towns outside of Augusta, rose Wednesday night to oppose a “shield bill” that aims to protect out-of-state patients who receive gender-affirming care or abortions in Maine from legal action in other states. After making numerous remarks that drew objections from Democratic members, such as that the bill came from “Lucifer himself,” Lemelin brought up last year’s measure that allows doctors to perform abortions they deem necessary after a prior viability cutoff.
Lemelin noted the law took effect Oct. 25, the same day a gunman killed 18 people and injured 13 at a Lewiston bowling alley and bar in Maine’s deadliest mass shooting on record.
“God heard you, and the horrible events on Oct. 25 happened,” Lemelin said.
Rudnicki then rose to say she agreed with everything Lemelin said.
Strong rebukes came from both sides of the aisle after the House passed the shield bill along party lines, with Rep. Rachel Henderson, R-Rumford, calling Lemelin’s remarks “reprehensible” and Assistant House Majority Leader Kristen Cloutier, D-Lewiston, saying in a statement they showed a “stunning lack of empathy and infuriating disregard for the victims, their families and everyone in our community.”
Rep. Nathan Carlow, R-Buxton, signaled ahead of Thursday’s votes he would censure Lemelin and called the comments “an insidious butchery of Christian teachings, an insult to the lives and memories of those who were slaughtered on Oct. 25 and a true stain” on the House.
The first censure of a member in the history of the House came in 2001 after then-Rep. John Michael, I-Auburn, shouted at two colleagues, per media reports at the time. Former Rep. Scott Hamann, D-South Portland, was removed from two committees after a 2017 social media rant against then-President Donald Trump.