SPECTRUM NEWS: Bellows Announces Run for Maine Governor
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced a run for governor today, making her the second prominent Democrat to express interest in or fully enter the 2026 race.
Describing herself as a “Downeast dirt road Democrat,” Bellows told supporters at the Viles Arboretum in Augusta that she will fight for the middle class.
“Our farmers, our fishermen, our nurses, our carpenters, our teachers, they’re the drivers of our economy, the pillars of our community and the people we need government looking out for and fighting for and that is what I will do for you for you as your next governor,” she said.
Bellows, 50, is a graduate of Ellsworth High School and Middlebury College who has served as executive director of the ACLU in Maine, a state senator and in 2021, she was sworn in as Maine’s first female Secretary of State.
Bellows made headlines last year when she decided to exclude President Donald Trump from GOP primary ballots because of the riots at the U.S. Capitol, a decision she reversed following a Supreme Court ruling in a related case.
“Because of that decision, my family was targeted, threatened and harassed,” she said. “But I stayed in office and I did my job.”
