AUGUSTA, Maine — Shenna Bellows was sworn in as Maine's new Secretary of State on Monday by Gov. Janet Mills, with a formal acceptance ceremony scheduled for noon in the House Chamber of the Maine State House.
While the building was closed to the public, people were able to view the proceedings in real-time via the House Chamber website livestream.
Bellows is Maine’s first female Secretary of State and the 50th person elected to the office. She previously served two terms in the Maine Senate from 2016-2020, and most recently worked as executive director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine.
In the Maine Senate, she served as Senate Chair of the Labor and Housing Committee and served on the Judiciary Committee. She was a 2020 presidential elector in the Electoral College.
Previously, she owned Bellows & Company, a non-profit consulting business, where she worked with organizations such as the Sierra Club’s Maine Chapter, Consumers for Affordable Healthcare, and the Maine Women’s Lobby. She also served as interim executive director of LearningWorks. In 2014, Secretary Bellows was the Democratic nominee for United States Senate in Maine.
From 2005 to 2013, Secretary Bellows was executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. She was a member of the first Right to Know Advisory Committee and the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition. She served on the Executive Committee of the 2009 and 2012 ballot campaigns to pass marriage equality in Maine, and co-chaired a successful 2011 statewide ballot campaign to restore same-day voter registration. She was an original member of the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting.
The Department of the Secretary of State includes three bureaus: The Maine State Archives, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions.
The Secretary of State is one of Maine’s three constitutional officers, along with the State Treasurer and Attorney General. All three, as well as the statutory office of State Auditor, are elected by the Legislature and participated in the ceremony.
Bellows grew up in Hancock and is a graduate of Ellsworth High School. She holds a B.A. in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College. She volunteered with the Peace Corps in Panama and AmeriCorps VISTA in Nashville, Tennessee.
She currently lives with her husband, Brandon, in Manchester, where she serves on the Manchester Conservation Commission.