(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump is ineligible to run for a third term in office, but that hasn’t stopped him from floating the idea to the press.
But whether or not the president’s comments are in jest, some of his opponents in Pennsylvania are worried.
Rep. Chris Pielli, D-West Chester, is concerned enough that he’s put forward a resolution in the Pennsylvania House. If passed, it would urge the Secretary of the Commonwealth to comply with election law by removing from the ballot “any individual who violates the qualifications or requirements for the office for which they are running.”
“This will demonstrate to Pennsylvanians that their government is committed to ensuring that their elected officials are chosen properly while sending a message to all political candidates that we remain a Country of laws and they cannot cheat their way into power,” Pielli wrote in a memo introducing the resolution.
The Center Square was unable to reach Pielli for further comment.
The two-term presidential limit was set under the 22nd Amendment ratified in 1951, although it had been practiced in tradition since George Washington.
Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only president to break the precedent, elected to serve four terms between 1933 and his death in 1945.
In addition to the 22nd Amendment, Pielli’s memo points to the 12th, which states that no one can run for vice president if they don’t meet the qualifications for president. That precludes another scenario floated by Trump supporters in which he runs as number two then assumes the presidential office following his hypothetical superior’s resignation. Trump, himself, has dismissed the idea.
A veteran and attorney, Pielli has been an outspoken critic of the president. Speaking at a protest against the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend, Pielli accused the president of playing “the oldest political trick in the book.”
“When things aren’t going well here at home, you create a foreign diversion,” said Pielli. “Don’t take your eyes off the ball. This isn’t going to change the price of bacon and eggs. This isn’t going to change the fact that we don’t have affordable healthcare, affordable housing, that the American dream is shrinking and shrinking every day for the middle class.”
He called upon his audience to vote in November and support “all of the candidates that are running against this monstrosity in the White House and the Senate and in Congress.”
The president has been laying the groundwork early for the midterms in Pennsylvania, still a coveted battleground where the minority party hopes to change their fortunes in 2026.
During a visit to Monroe County last month, Trump focused on tariffs and “no tax on tips” as selling points for his legislative supporters. The swing district he visited is represented by U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a key target in the general election.
“My favorite word is tariff,” Trump said several times, describing how they raise large revenues from foreign countries that he said have aided farmers, will protect the steel industry, and drive investment and reshoring of manufacturing.
But those same tariffs have sparked uncertainty among Americans, according to The Center Square’s Voters Voice Poll conducted by Noble Predictive Insights.
The poll found that 15% of registered voters cited price increases and inflation as their top issues, followed by government corruption (13%), the economy/jobs (11%), health care (9%), illegal immigration (8%), and crime/violence (7%).
During a speech in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, the president touched on all the ways his administration has tackled each, despite strong opposition from Democrats.
“We have great, solid, commonsense policy,” Trump told Republican lawmakers in the room. “They have horrendous policy. What they do is they stick together. They never have a no vote. You have so many good nuggets. You have to use them. If you have to sell them.”
Lauren Jessop and Sarah Roderick-Fitch contributed to this report.
