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Shenna Bellows · Newsradio WGAN

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  As I promised before we went to our last break, we are now
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  welcoming on to the program Secretary of State Shanna
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  Bellows, who is one of the Democratic candidates running
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  for governor of Maine in 2026. And Shanna is joining us here as
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  we begin early voting. Absentees are in the in the
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  works now. So that means that we are within
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  30 days of the actual election comes around fast.
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  Shanna, welcome back to the program.
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  Nice talking to you again. Good morning.
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  How are you? How is your Mother's Day?
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  Very busy, but I appreciate you asking.
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  Hopefully. My wife had a wonderful day.
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  We tried to make a good, but lots of stuff to do, no doubt
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  about it. Listen, let me ask you about the
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  election that you are in the midst of right now.
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  And I know that you're administering it as Secretary of
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  State, but you're also running in it because you are one of the
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  Democratic candidates for governor.
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  Looks like it's debate season for you guys, starting to really
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  heat up. Lots of these forums happening
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  and you're within a few weeks here of the actual election.
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  So as you are marching towards that day, what are you hearing?
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  What are you seeing? What is your campaign talking
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  about? Just give me your overall
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  perspective on the race right now.
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  Sure. Well, first I think we're going
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  to win. I have a bribe base to support
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  in CD2, where I grew up and where I live now, and in CD1 as
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  well. And what I'm hearing are are
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  three themes. First, Democrats are fired up
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  about having someone who will stand up to Trump and the abuses
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  of the federal government. Obviously, I've been doing that
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  as Secretary of State. They want someone who will
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  protect democracy and the Constitution and the Bill of
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  Rights. But then the other theme, and I
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  think this is going to be the most important theme as we move
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  into November, is Mainers are really struggling right now with
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  the cost of everything. Affordability is a huge issue.
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  You know, I don't need to take a poll or get message tested on
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  this. I've lived it.
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  I grew up working class. But whether it's the cost of
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  electricity and energy, the cost of housing, healthcare, a lot of
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  Mainers feel like they're just working hard and not getting by.
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  Priced out of things, Yeah. No, I I hear that very much the
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  same. Could you tell me a little bit
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  about why ultimately what is the source or the sort of reason why
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  so many of the metrics that we track for how Mainers are doing
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  and what not are not looking so great right now?
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  What ultimately has happened? I think it's a perfect storm of
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  a lot of different factors and a lot of terrible decisions in
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  Washington and lack of bold action to address the root
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  causes. So let's take housing, for
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  example. Maine has experienced a gold
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  rush since the pandemic. One in six main homes, according
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  to a Press Herald article last fall, is a vacation home at this
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  point. So we, you know, I was talking
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  to some folks yesterday and you've got some communities
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  where between 30 or over 50% of the homes sit vacant in the
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  winter time because their vacation home.
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  This is along the coast, but it means I.
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  Don't mean to interrupt you, Shanna, but is that is that
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  different than we've seen in the past means, you know, obviously
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  been tagged as vacation land for a long time obviously, but.
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  Sure. And I grew up in a community at
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  of Hancock and there were summer people on the plane, But the
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  lobstermen, the teachers, carpenters, like my dad, you
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  know, could still afford to leave live there.
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  We lived on the east, east side and and the rich people lived on
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  the West side. But that's completely different.
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  I don't think folks, you know, for example, fishermen, they
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  can't find a place to live in the communities where they are
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  working. They have to commute over an
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  hour. And so I think that we need, not
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  only do we need new housing, but we actually need to support
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  first time home buyers. And I've proposed A statewide
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  moratorium on property taxes for Maine residents.
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  But doubling the property taxes on out of Staters who are
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  gobbling up our property because they can certainly afford to pay
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  more, especially if they're paying cash for these huge
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  properties. So I do have to ask the
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  inevitable question. But the Democrats have been in
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  charge in Maine for eight years. Obviously, we had Governor Janet
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  Mills here for the last 8. There's been a variety of
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  solutions, I think, to many of the problems that made his
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  facing right now, including housing, including energy,
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  including including education. I mean, I could go down a long
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  list here. And these problems have
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  seemingly been stuck in the mud, some of them getting worse, some
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  of them just kind of staying not great.
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  What will be different? I mean, why?
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  Why would a voter who is sort of listening to your pitch right
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  now say, all right, well, I get that it's not really their
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  fault, and Shanna's going to be the one that does it.
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  She's going to be the one that actually fixes it.
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  Why is that going to happen? That's a really fair question.
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  First, I'll say I'm not part of the Mills administration.
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  A lot of folks, especially newcomers to Maine, assume that
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  the Secretary of State is part of the cabinet or works for the
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  governor. And of course, I'm elected by
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  the Legislature and completely independent, overseeing the BMV
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  elections, corporations and archives.
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  But I do think I'm far more progressive than Governor Mills.
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  Take Energy, for example. Some of the issues are beyond
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  the state's control, right? It's the illegal war in Iran
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  that's driving up gas and diesel prices and heating oil prices.
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  Thank God spring is here. But there are other issues.
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  For example, with the transition to clean energy, the state has
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  really pursued tax credits. So if you're middle class or
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  wealthy, you can afford a heat pump or put solar panels on your
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  house and then you get a tax credit at the end of tax season.
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  Well, if you're working class, I mean, I grew up without
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  electricity or indoor plumbing. My dad had his own business.
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  My mom did a bunch of different things.
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  They could never have found the savings for solar panels or heat
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  pump. And I think most working
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  families in mean couldn't. So I think and we've been
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  balancing those investments in solar on the backs of repairs
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  rather than finding that out of the general fund.
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  So I'm huge on solar. I think we need to invest in
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  solar and wind. I think that will be give us
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  energy independence. It's a matter of security as
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  well as good for the economy. But we can't back.
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  We can't pay for it on the backs of the ratepayers.
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  So also, what you're saying here is that the legislature and the
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  governor have not been bold enough or have been sort of
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  progressive enough to really have tackled the problems that
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  in a way that would have solved them?
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  Yes, and I think part of it might come.
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  You know, I come from the working class.
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  I understand affordability in a very visceral way.
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  I had to work my way through high school and college.
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  I had to pay off my student debt.
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  And so I think thinking about some of these solutions from the
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  lens of what is it really like for people who are struggling to
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  get by. And I think, you know, I, I
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  don't think, for example, our climate goals have to be in
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  tension with affordability. I just need to think we need to
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  approach it differently. I've also proposed capping
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  electricity profits for the foreign owned companies that own
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  our power at 6%. Right now, they're making some
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  of the highest profits in the country.
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  And Maine has some of the highest electricity rates in the
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  country. And that's absurd.
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  And again, when the AARP makes electricity their top issue
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  because seniors are struggling so much, something is deeply
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  wrong. Shanna Bellows, Secretary of
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  State, is joining us. She is one of the candidates for
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  governor in 2026. And the primary is just around
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  the corner. Just talking a little bit about
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  the campaign. I know you have a limited time.
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  So in maybe the few minutes I have left with you, I'd love to
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  ask you specifically about education.
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  And I'm, I'm curious to maybe unpack a little bit about what's
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  happened to Maine's educational results in the last several
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  years. You know, Governor Mills has
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  touted significant investments made in education, the 55%
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  number obviously and and a lot of, I think prioritization of it
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  from a financial perspective. The numbers have been going down
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  though. Is there something more
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  fundamentally wrong with how we do education in the state right
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  now? What's been ultimately happening
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  in your view? So I think we need to education
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  is one of my top three priorities because we are
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  absolutely in a terrible place when it comes to education.
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  When I was a kid at Hancock Grammar and then Ellsworth High
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  School, we were in the top at 25% of the country in terms of
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  test scores. We had great schools.
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  There's no question in my mind that.
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  But for great public schools, that's why I'm Secretary of
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  State today. But we are now in the bottom
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  quartile and kids are struggling with learning to read, with
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  learning math skills. But here's the thing, we are
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  struggling to recruit teachers into the workforce.
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  Last spring, I met someone who said his daughter, who is a
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  teacher, was having to use the food pantry.
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  And it blew my mind. But the later as I talked to
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  teachers across the state, this was a common story.
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  I mean, teachers are the backbone of our public schools,
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  but we don't pay them like it. And so as governor, I'll fight
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  to pay our teachers more so that we can recruit and keep the best
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  educators for our kids. I think This is why the main
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  education association, the main teachers ranked me #1 in their
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  investments, excuse me, in their endorsements.
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  The second piece is investment. So you go into our schools and
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  kids are sitting in classrooms that are crumbling, roofs that
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  are leaking. And we, you know, we say we have
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  a list, but there has to be basically a disaster to get
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  state funding for our schools. And so I think investing in
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  school infrastructure is a priority.
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  And then I think that investment in paying teachers more, in
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  supporting more of the education budget out of the state level,
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  because I think that's another issue.
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  You know, our budget has grown. Republicans criticize our budget
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  for having grown over 70% in the last decade.
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  They're correct. It's billions of dollars, but
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  that 55% masks a reality. We're not putting 55% into every
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  school district. In fact, many of these minimum
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  receivers school districts are getting very little.
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  So I think we need to step up and fully fund special
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  education, English language learning, the school meals
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  programs and put a mental health counselor in every school.
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  And I think with that funding needs to come some
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  accountability. We need to support our schools
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  in taking a more rigorous this approach with reading and math
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  and then put a few other things back in the schools like
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  industrial arts and the trades. Unfortunately, we're out of time
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  there and we have to stop. But as we get out, if you are
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  more interested in learning more, connecting with Shenna's
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  campaign, obviously there's a website.
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  How would you direct people that are interested in learning more
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  about your campaign and want to help?
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  Where would you go? What would you do?
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  Bellows for maine.com. Thanks so much and have a great
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  rest of your day and, and today is the first day of early voting
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  everybody. So get, yeah, get going, vote
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  early, not vote often, just vote early.
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  Appreciate it as always. Thanks a lot, Jenna.
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  Thanks so much, Matt. Have a good one.