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Shenna Bellows, who blocked Trump from Maine’s primary ballot, used to run the state’s Holocaust center
(JTA) – When Shenna Bellows was appointed Maine’s secretary of state in 2020, she described how her previous job at a Holocaust education center made her especially suited to the role.
Bellows, the former executive director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, tweeted that her work with Holocaust survivors “has taught me so much about how fragile and precious democracy is and about the importance of documenting and preserving our history to share with the future generations.”
Now, Bellows has issued what may be one of her state’s most consequential rulings in years: that former President Donald Trump is not eligible to appear on Maine’s primary ballot because his actions on Jan. 6, 2021 violated the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Unlike in Michigan and Colorado, where decisions on Trump’s ballot eligibility were recently made by those states’ Supreme Courts, Maine’s was made by Bellows alone — putting her, and perhaps her experience as a Holocaust educator, in the political spotlight for 2024.
In her decision, Bellows echoed her own words about her work at the Holocaust center: that she was primarily concerned with protecting democracy.
“I do not reach this conclusion lightly. Democracy is sacred,” she wrote in her Thursday decision ruling Trump ineligible. However, she stated, “The weight of the evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his multi-month effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to light a match.”
Bellows’ decision has been met with fury from Trump and his supporters. Shortly before she made the ruling, Trump’s legal team had argued she should recuse herself, claiming she was biased because she had already determined that the events of Jan. 6 constituted an insurrection. After the ruling, a Trump aide called Bellows a “virulent leftist,” while Trump himself, on his Truth Social platform, posted a link to the Maine secretary of state website.
Attempts to reach the center for comment were returned with an automated message that it is closed for the holidays.
A Democrat who served two terms in the Maine Senate, Bellows was the Maine Holocaust center’s director from 2018-2020, concurrently with her second term in the legislature. She left the position after the state legislature appointed her as Maine’s first female secretary of state. (Unlike in other states where the position is elected by voters, Maine’s is appointed by lawmakers.)
Her Trump decision made Maine the second state, after Colorado, to rule the former president ineligible for its primary ballot based on the Insurrection Clause. The move sets the stage for a highly consequential legal battle that will likely soon play out before the nation’s highest court. Trump’s team has appealed the Colorado decision to the Supreme Court, and Bellows said she recognized their decision could soon nullify her own.
Michigan’s Supreme Court has also separately ruled that Trump can stay on their state’s primary ballot, but that the door was still open for his removal from its general election ballot.
Previously, Bellows had been the head of the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and founded a consulting firm for nonprofits. She ran as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2014 against popular Republican Susan Collins and was soundly defeated, winning only 31% of the statewide vote.
Founded in 1985 by Holocaust survivor Gerda Haas, the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine is located on the University of Maine’s campus in the state capital of Augusta. It focuses on education, offering courses to the state’s schools and programming guest speakers. An upcoming “Conversation on Antisemitism,” to be held in January, is advertised as focusing on “the antisemitism and hate that we are seeing as a result of the October 7th Hamas attacks in Israel and the war in Gaza,” while also noting, “We won’t be talking about the current war or the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in general.”
At the time Bellows was promoted to secretary of state, the museum’s leaders celebrated her time there. “The HHRC has thrived under Shenna’s leadership, especially in the areas of board development and grant writing,” Associate Director David Greenham said in a press release. Board member Nancy Spiegel added, “Her organizational and fiscal leadership skills have given us the ability to firmly weather this past year’s uncertainties. I am going to miss her but know she will be a strong and capable Secretary of State for Maine.”
Even after she left the center, Bellows has continued to advocate for Holocaust education and Jewish issues on social media, and she shared a recent story about Israeli hostages from Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
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The post Shenna Bellows, who blocked Trump from Maine’s primary ballot, used to run the state’s Holocaust center appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.