Let me be clear up front—this is not an official endorsement of anyone running for governor. There are lots of good people in the race, doing lots of good things (Hannah Pingree just came out for a public option and Troy Jackson is going after a racist in the GOP). When the time comes, I will roll out my ranked choice list of who I am voting for.

That said, when I see a candidate doing something badass during the campaign, any candidate, I plan to give them an official “Badass Award.” And, by “badass,” I mean, they do/propose something that takes courage, will help our most vulnerable, and that sets an example others should follow.

That explained, my first official “Badass Award” goes to Shenna Bellows for how she has used the Secretary of State’s office to oppose Trump. She hasn’t just talked-the-talk, she has used the tools at her disposal to creatively and vociferously protect Maine people and resist his march toward fascism. We should all do the same with the tools we have.

This culminated a few weeks ago when ICE began preparing for its invasion of Maine. While a number of politicians went through the verbal motions of opposing the pending kidnappings, without actually doing anything legislatively or administratively to stop them, Sec. Bellows quietly stamped “NO” on a request from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to obtain undercover license plates so they could more easily hide as they slinked around our streets.

As it likely did in most states, ICE confidentially went to our Bureau of Motor Vehicles to ask for the normally standard issue plates. Unlike in any other state I can find, Sec. Bellows, who oversees the BMV, said that she needed “to be assured that these plates are not being used for lawless purposes” before she would hand them over.

I can only assume the lawlessness she was referring to was ICE tossing out the Fourth Amendment and arresting people without first obtaining a warrant, using children as bait to entrap parents, and assassinating protestors.

But this was far from the first time Bellows has used her power to slow Trump’s fascist machine.

She showed her badass courage two years ago, in December of 2023, when she ruled that Trump was not eligible to run for president because the 14th Amendment bars anyone who was an insurrectionist against America from running for president. (Full disclosure, I was one of the three former elected officials who filed the complaint.)

While other secretaries of state shied away from making such a ruling (indeed many Maine politicians who had previously condemned Trump’s actions, also cowered, including Gov. Janet Mills), Bellows did what the constitution required. Later overturned by our cowardly Supreme Court on jurisdictional grounds (not on whether Trump actually was an insurrectionist, since that is unassailable), history will show that she was one of the few to actually use her authority to protect us.

And since then, as Trump has tried over and over to get our voter data, Bellows has stood firm and said no, joining secretaries of state across the country who are refusing to comply with his conspiracy theories about non-citizens voting, which could result in everyone’s privacy being violated.

Again and again, Bellows has shown that she will use whatever tool she has in her arsenal to put a wrench in Trump’s desire to become a dictator-for-life. This is a good example for us all, as this is the most important fight of our time. 

“Badass Awards” are available to all who wish to apply, but this one is for Bellows.

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