Who is Shenna Bellows? Maine Secretary of State's picture with Joe Biden goes viral amid removal of Trump from 2024 ballot

On Thursday, December 28, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows disqualified former President Trump from the 2024 ballot. Bellows cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause, which prevents a person who has engaged in any rebellious activity against the country from holding office.

"The U.S. Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government, and Section 336 requires me to act in response," Secretary of State Shenna Bellows wrote.

Bellows' decision to block Trump from the 2024 ballot comes a week after the Colorado Supreme Court barred the former president from the state’s Republican primary ballot, citing the 14th Amendment, seemingly referencing Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress.

Bellows' move against Trump has sparked disbelief online. Social media users accused the Maine Secretary of State of hindering the democratic process and began circulating her picture with Joe Biden, which has gone viral online.

Reacting to the image, social media users suggested Democrats are conspiring to thwart Trump's bid in the presidential election.

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What we know about Shenna Bellows

Shenna Bellows, who graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College in 1997, receiving the highest honors for a thesis in economic and environmental sustainability, served as a democratic state senator from 2016 to 2020 before she was elected the first female Secretary of State in 2020.

After graduating college, Bellows served in the Peace Corps in Panama as a small-business development volunteer before serving as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maine from 2005 to 2013.

She was also the executive director for the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine for two years and owned Bellows & Company, a non-profit consulting business that provided management, development, and communications consulting services to nonprofit clients to bring about social change.

Following her decision ruling Donald Trump ineligible to appear on the primary ballot in 2024, many people slammed the democratic secretary despite her providing cause for her actions that echoed with Colorado's Supreme Court barring Trump from the ballot, citing the 14th amendment of the Constitution.

In a court document, Shenna Bellows wrote she decided to disqualify Trump under the 14th Amendment's section 3 insurrection clause over his actions surrounding the Capitol attack. Trump is currently on trial over crimes related to his bid to reverse his loss in the 2020 election to President Joe Biden that resulted in the Jan 6 attack.

“I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Bellows wrote. “I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”

However, many have raised issues over the move contending courts and not elected officials have the proper jurisdiction to question someone’s eligibility. However, Politico reported Maine state law enables Bellows to serve in a quasi-judicial role.

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Trump says he would appeal Maine decisions

In response to Bellows move, Donald Trump said that he would appeal both the Colorado and Maine decisions to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a statement Thursday night, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said:

"We will quickly file a legal objection in state court to prevent this atrocious decision in Maine from taking effect. We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter.”

Meanwhile, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against blocking Trump from the primary ballot earlier this week.