MSNBC, CNN praise ‘brave’ Maine secretary of state for removing Trump from 2024 ballot for ‘insurrection’

Speaking with MSNBC, Bellows said it was a "detailed decision" in which she laid out why "the secretary of state has the authority" and obligation "to make this determination."

Host Jason Johnson replied that "not only is this an incredibly important decision, its a very brave decision."

"The Trump campaign has already come out attacking you. They have said that you are a virulent leftist and a hyper-partisan, Biden-supporting Democrat."

"First and foremost, it's important to know, my oath to the Constitution, my obligations to the Constitution and rule of law come before any other consideration. No other factors could weigh on that decision and did not. I'm duty bound to both hold a hearing and make a ruling, and under the law there's a very compressed timeline in evaluating this," Bellows said.

Bellows said she couldn’t wait for the Supreme Court to make a decision on the matter, and the "Maine law required me to issue that decision which I did today."

"I smile because we were number one in voter turnout per capita and 2022. We're really proud of that. And we have a really strong framework of election laws that encourage citizen participation," Bellows said.

Speaking with CNN, Bellows said, "Again, I am so mindful and I said this in my decision, that it is unprecedented, no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the 14th Amendment. But no presidential candidate has ever engaged in insurrection and been disqualified under Section Three of the 14th amendment."

Bellows appeared virtually alongside other secretaries of state at the 2021 progressive Netroots Nation conference, speaking about "election sabotage."

"We need to organize, to make sure we have better leaders in positions of power to fight back against that."

Bellows said that work still needs to be done on "systematic structural voter suppression targeting specifically black and brown voters. It’s rooted in white supremacy."