Shenna Bellows
American politician and civil rights advocate (born 1975)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shenna Lee Bellows (born March 23, 1975) is an American politician and civil rights advocate who has served as the 50th Secretary of State of Maine since January 2021. She is the first woman to hold this position.[1] Before entering politics, Bellows worked as a civil rights advocate, serving as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maine from 2005 to 2013, and later as executive director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine from 2018 to 2020.[2]
Shenna Bellows | |
|---|---|
Bellows in 2014 | |
| 50th Secretary of State of Maine | |
| Assumed office January 4, 2021 | |
| Governor | Janet Mills |
| Preceded by | Matthew Dunlap |
| Member of the Maine Senate from the 14th district | |
| In office December 7, 2016 – December 2, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Earle McCormick |
| Succeeded by | Craig Hickman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Shenna Lee Bellows March 23, 1975 |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
Brandon Baldwin (m. 2012) |
| Education | Middlebury College (BA) |
Bellows served in the Maine Senate from 2016 to 2020, representing the 14th district. She was the Maine Democratic Party nominee in the 2014 United States Senate election in Maine, which she lost to incumbent Republican Susan Collins, by over 30%. As Secretary of State, Bellows gained national attention in December 2023 when she ruled that Donald Trump was ineligible for Maine's Republican primary ballot due to his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, a decision later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.[3] In March 2025, she announced her candidacy for Governor of Maine in the 2026 Maine gubernatorial election, but she was defeated in the Democratic primary.[4]
Early life and education
Shenna Bellows was born on March 23, 1975, in Greenfield, Massachusetts, to Dexter Bellows, a carpenter, and Janice Colson, a nurse. She was raised in Hancock, Maine, where she attended Hancock Grammar School. According to Bellows, her family experienced economic hardship during her childhood, living without running water or electricity until she was in fifth grade.[5][6]
At age 15, Bellows participated in the AFS–USA foreign exchange program in Campos, Brazil. She graduated from Ellsworth High School in 1993 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College in 1997.[7] During high school and college, she worked as a research assistant at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory located in Salisbury Cove, Maine, on Mount Desert Island, contributing to published research on marine fish physiology.[8] During her junior year at Middlebury, she studied abroad for a semester in San José, Costa Rica.
Early career
Bellows served as executive director of the ACLU of Maine for eight years. In that role, she built coalitions with both Republicans and Democrats to pass privacy and civil rights laws.[9] She was a leader of Mainers United for Marriage, working for seven years to pass same-sex marriage in Maine.[10] She was a leader on voting rights and co-chaired the 2011 Protect Maine Votes campaign to restore same-day voter registration.[11][12] Most recently, she organized a successful privacy campaign to require warrants for access to private cell phone communications, and she led the opposition to warrantless drone surveillance.[13]
During her time at the ACLU, Bellows was a leader in the Maine Choice Coalition and the Coalition for Maine Women.[14] She was recognized for her work to advance women’s health and reproductive choice by awards from the University of Maine Women’s Studies Department,[15] Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center,[16] the American Association of University Women,[17] the Frances Perkins Center[18] and the Maine Democratic Party.
Prior to her work at the ACLU of Maine, Bellows was the national field organizer at the ACLU in Washington, D.C., organizing nationwide civil liberties campaigns including opposition to the Patriot Act, where she built broad coalitions that included librarians and gun owners alike.[19]
Bellows was an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in Nashville, Tennessee. There she assisted a start-up non-profit, Community IMPACT! in developing an asset building program to promote educational and economic empowerment for young people in Nashville’s largest public housing project.[20]
Bellows served as a small-business-development Peace Corps volunteer in La Arena de Chitré, Panama. In Panama, she launched a micro-lending program for artisans, started a Junior Achievement entrepreneurship program at a local high school, and was President of Women In Development/Gender and Development, dedicated to advancing economic and educational opportunity for women and girls.[21]
From 1997 to 1999 Bellows worked as a researcher and recruiter for Economists Incorporated, a privately held economic consulting firm specializing in microeconomic analysis in antitrust, regulatory and legal contexts in Washington, D.C.[22]
Political career
Bellows launched her candidacy for the United States Senate in 2014 on October 23, 2013.[23][24] In November, she was defeated.
Bellows announced on March 4, 2016, that she would run for the Maine Senate in district 14, including her hometown of Manchester and ten other towns in the Augusta area. She ran as a publicly financed candidate.[25] Bellows won election to the Maine Senate on November 8, 2016, and took office on December 7, 2016. She won reelection to the Maine Senate in 2018, defeating Republican Matt Stone with 57.9% of the vote.[26] She was reelected again in 2020, winning 56% of the vote over Republican Mark Walker.[27] Bellows resigned from the Senate on December 2, 2020.[28] A special election was scheduled for March 2021.[28]
In December 2020, Bellows was elected Secretary of State of Maine. She is the first female to hold the position.[29] In Maine, the secretary of state is elected biannually in December by a joint session of the Maine Legislature for a term that begins in January.[30]
Disqualification of Donald Trump from Maine primary ballot
In December 2023, five Maine voters filed challenges to former president Donald Trump's petition to appear on the 2024 Republican presidential preference primary ballot in Maine.[31] On December 15, 2023, Bellows held a public evidentiary hearing to consider the validity of those challenges.[31][32] On December 28, 2023, she ruled that Trump would be barred from the Maine primary ballot due to his conduct during the January 6 United States Capitol attack, pending appeal.[33][34]
After ruling Trump ineligible, Bellows was doxxed, with her home address, phone number, and other personal data information published online.[35] Bellows was also swatted on December 29, 2023.[36] The incident was part of the series of violent threats against politicians, activists, and government buildings.[36] On January 3, 2024, bomb threats were further made against the Maine State Capitol, which led it to be evacuated, in what has been described as a likely continuation of the threats.[37]
On January 2, 2024, Trump appealed Bellows' December 28 decision to the Maine Superior Court.[38] The Superior Court ordered Bellows to reconsider her disqualification decision pending a ruling from the United States Supreme Court on Trump's ballot access. Bellows unsuccessfully appealed the Superior Court ruling to the Maine Supreme Court, where her request was dismissed.[39]
Bellows' disqualification of Trump, along with those of two other states, was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in a unanimous ruling in Trump v. Anderson on March 4, 2024.[40] Bellows rescinded her disqualification of Trump from ballot access the same day.[39]
2026 gubernatorial election
In March 2025, Bellows announced her candidacy in the 2026 Maine gubernatorial election.[41] Bellows ultimately finished fourth in the primary among voters' first preferences, and was the second candidate eliminated in ranked-choice voting tabulation. The primary was won by Hannah Pingree, whom she had cross-endorsed along with fellow candidate Troy Jackson. [4]
Political positions
Bellows supports abortion rights, describing herself as "a strong advocate for women's healthcare and reproductive freedom including access to abortion and contraception".[42] She led the effort to enact marriage equality in Maine as the head of Mainers United for Marriage.[42][43] She supports federal anti-discrimination protections against LGBT people.[44]
Bellows opposes the Citizens United v. FEC decision, and supports public financing of elections and strong disclosure requirements.[42] In 2014, she supported increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10, and indexing it to inflation.[44] In 2016, she supported a ballot initiative to gradually raise Maine’s minimum wage to $12 by 2020.[45] Bellows advocates for eliminating the cap on income taxable under the social security payroll tax in order to increase benefits.[42] Bellows opposes efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and supports expanding coverage through the Medicaid and Medicare programs.[42]
Bellows wants to greatly decrease subsidies for large agricultural corporations.[42] She supports decreasing the tax burden on lower- and middle-income families, as well as small businesses, but wants to "make sure the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share" and does not support lowering taxes for high-earners or corporations.[42] Bellows supports large increases in corporate and capital gains taxes, as well as the personal income tax rates for higher-earning brackets.[42]
Bellows supports large cuts to the defense budget, and largely opposes military intervention by the U.S., saying "we cannot afford to be the world's military policeman".[42] She opposes the death penalty.[42] Bellows supports federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change.[42]
Personal life
Bellows lives with her husband, Brandon Baldwin. The two married in 2013 at their home in Manchester in Kennebec County.[23][7]
Electoral history
Maine Senate district 14
2016
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Shenna Bellows | 1,947 | 81.74 | |
| Democratic | Terry Berry | 435 | 18.26 | |
| Total votes | 2,382 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Shenna Bellows | 9,816 | 43.6 | |
| Republican | Bryan Cutchen | 8,082 | 35.9 | |
| Independent | Joseph Pietroski | 4,012 | 17.8 | |
| Total votes | 22,529 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratic gain from Republican | ||||
2018
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Shenna Bellows (incumbent) | 10,790 | 57.89% | |
| Republican | Matthew Stone | 7,850 | 42.11% | |
| Total votes | 18,640 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratic hold | ||||
2020
| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Democratic | Shenna Bellows (incumbent) | 4,285 | 90.9% | |
| Democratic | Danielle Grondin-Stevens | 431 | 9.1% | |
| Total votes | 4,716 | 100.0% | ||
| General election | ||||
| Democratic | Shenna Bellows (incumbent) | 12,998 | 56.06 | |
| Republican | Mark Walker | 10,189 | 43.94 | |
| Total votes | 23,737 | 100.00 | ||
| Democratic hold | ||||
United States Senate
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Shenna Bellows | 47,909 | 73.6% | |
| Other and Blank | 17,176 | 26.4% | ||
| Total votes | 65,085 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Susan Collins | 413,505 | 67.0% | |
| Democratic | Shenna Bellows | 190,254 | 30.8% | |
| Total votes | 603,759 | 100.0% | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
Gubernatorial
| 2026 Maine Democratic gubernatorial primary results[49] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | ||||||||
| Votes | % | Transfer | Votes | % | Transfer | Votes | % | Transfer | Votes | % | |||
| Democratic | Hannah Pingree | 50,552 | 23.3 | +4,808 | 55,360 | 26.0 | + 20,311 | 75,671 | 36.3 | + 36,079 | 111,750 | 56.2 | |
| Democratic | Nirav Shah | 58,606 | 26.8 | + 4,255 | 62,860 | 29.5 | +9,821 | 72,681 | 34.8 | + 14,269 | 86,950 | 43.8 | |
| Democratic | Troy Jackson | 45,959 | 21.1 | + 1,638 | 47,597 | 22.3 | + 12,413 | 60,010 | 28.8 | - 60,010 | Eliminated | ||
| Democratic | Shenna Bellows | 44,770 | 20.6 | + 2,279 | 47,049 | 22.1 | - 47,049 | Eliminated | |||||
| Democratic | Angus King III | 17,860 | 8.3 | - 17,860 | Eliminated | ||||||||
| Continuing ballots | 217,747 | 100.0 | 212,848 | 97.8 | 208,542 | 100.0 | 198,700 | 91.1 | |||||
| Exhausted ballots | – | + 4,881 | 4,881 | 2.2 | + 4,504 | 9,385 | 4.3 | + 9,662 | 19,047 | 8.9 | |||
| Total votes | 217,747 | 100.0 | 217,747 | 100.0 | 217,747 | 100.0 | 217,747 | 100.0 | |||||