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Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3 Polls 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Cross Insurance Center
03

Candidate for Bangor City Council · Nov. 3, 2026

Andrei Yermakov

Top priority: Community-building and reducing divisiveness in local politics. BDN, Sept. 25

About Andrei

Yermakov is currently employed by the Maine People's Alliance, a progressive advocacy group, and is involved with People Powered Maine, Indivisible Bangor and Food and Medicine. He worked on Graham Platner's U.S. Senate campaign before Platner withdrew in July, and describes himself as a longtime union member with experience negotiating contracts and managing businesses. He says he has personally experienced homelessness and substance use. BDN, Sept. 25BDN, Aug. 1LWV forum, Oct. 7

On the ballot as
Yermakov, Andrei Valentin
Ballot position
3 of 12
Age
67
Work
Employed by the progressive Maine People's Alliance
Ties to Bangor
Moved to Bangor from Newcastle about a year and a half ago
Party
Registered Democrat
Council meetings attended
Says he attends most council meetings, except when work conflicted in spring and summer
Public record
No prior elected office reported. Took part in the League of Women Voters candidate forum, Oct. 7, 2026.

Where Yermakov stands

Summaries of what the candidate has said publicly, in our words. Follow the source links for full context.

Homelessness

Supports Yellen Pines, calling it imperfect but a good start. Wants public discussion of homeless residents to be more humane. BDN, Sept. 25 1:40:31 1:58

Drug use and syringe programs

Supports needle exchange programs, citing the county's HIV outbreak, and wants more sharps disposal containers. BDN, Sept. 25 1:17

Public safety and policing

Praises the Bangor Police Department and says officers should not be doing social work; wants a social-services liaison to take those calls. LWV forum, Oct. 7 2:42:28

Housing and rent

Favors a rent freeze, which he says would encourage people to stay in or move to Bangor. Says young people worry they cannot afford housing in Bangor even with a job, and wants the council to work more closely with the school board and local businesses. At the forum, backed a mandatory rental registry and some form of rent control. BDN, Sept. 25Fox Bangor, Sept. 18LWV forum, Oct. 7

Property taxes and the city budget

Favors a property tax freeze and wants the city website to point residents to state tax relief programs. Would not cut city services just to lower taxes. BDN, Sept. 25LWV forum, Oct. 7 2:12:08 3:11

Jobs, business and the economy

Proposes high school apprenticeships, a work commitment for city-funded bus driver training, and partnerships with medical institutions to keep workers. Proposes a "BangCorps" trade apprenticeship program with Job Corps. BDN, Sept. 25LWV forum, Oct. 7 1:20:10 1:58:50

How the council works

Wants regular office-hours meetings at local businesses, one-on-one meetings with councilors, and more community events posted online. BDN, Sept. 25 2:27:09 1:57

Data centers and license plate cameras

Plans to propose banning automatic license plate readers, citing surveillance concerns. BDN, Sept. 25

Key council decisions

The Bangor Daily News asked all 12 candidates how they would have voted on measures that came before the council in the past year; six are shown here. Answers are summarized in our words; the BDN's chart has their full comments.

Measure and outcomePosition
180-day pause on data center constructionPassed 9-0 in April 2026; later extended for another 180 days.Yes Would also have voted to renew it. BDN, Oct. 7
Proposed 180-day ban on new syringe programs and treatment facilitiesRejected 2-3 in the Business and Economic Development Committee, June 2026.No BDN, Oct. 7
Funding for the public health department's homeless response coordinatorRequested by the public health department in the 2026 budget; the position was previously paid for with federal pandemic relief money.Yes Calls homelessness the top problem residents raise. BDN, Oct. 7
Increased school budgetThe School Committee proposed a $65.8 million budget, up 5.6% from the year before.Yes Says the schools are the city's future. BDN, Oct. 7
Ordinance limiting how much city staff, including police, help federal immigration agents (ICE)Would have barred city employees from helping enforce federal civil immigration law. Failed 3-5 on June 22, 2026.Yes Cites concerns about federal enforcement and privacy. BDN, Oct. 7
Tax reimbursement (TIF) for the Yellen Pines supportive housing projectApproved 6-3 in August 2026; a move to reconsider failed 7-2. The city reimburses 75% of the building's property taxes for 30 years. Residents are not required to be sober or in treatment: the developer has said some may use drugs in their apartments, with round-the-clock on-site staff from Preble Street there to encourage them not to. Residents sign a lease with rules, and continued rule-breaking or illegal drug use leads to eviction.Yes Notes the site now pays no property tax, so it still adds revenue after the reimbursement. BDN, Oct. 7

Other positions

Questions put to the candidates that were not council votes. "No position" means we found no public statement; we never infer one.

QuestionPosition
Rent control or a rent freezeYes Favors a rent freeze. BDN, Sept. 25

Voting record on the council

Not a sitting councilor, so there is no council voting record. "Key council decisions" above shows how the candidate says they would have voted.

In their own words

Word for word from each video's captions, with filler words (uh, um) and false starts taken out. [Brackets] mark our corrections of caption errors and ... marks words left out. Every candidate gets the same picks: from the Oct. 7 forum, an opening or closing statement and the answers on downtown policing and on property taxes; from the BDN video interviews, the answers on homelessness, syringes and city spending; and up to four remarks from 2026 City Council meeting videos (public comment, or remarks from the council table for a sitting councilor). Tap the time to hear it yourself. All candidates' quotes

I support a housing first approach with wraparound services. 60% of Bangor are renters... I'd like to see a mandatory rental registry, some sort of rent control.

League of Women Voters forum, Oct. 7, 2026Why I'm running 1:17:21

I would love to promise, you know, taxes will go down, but we have a lot of services in here. I'd hate to see services be cut just to have taxes go down.

League of Women Voters forum, Oct. 7, 2026Keeping seniors in their homes 2:12:08

The police department in Bangor is exceptional... They're not social workers, and right now the police department's being tasked with doing types of intervention that really would belong to social work.

League of Women Voters forum, Oct. 7, 2026Downtown, homelessness and the police 2:42:28

There's a misconception that the city is giving people drugs. We're not giving anyone drugs. We're giving them needles. We're giving them clean needles.

BDN video interview, Oct. 5, 2026Syringes 1:44

I support the Yellen Pines project... It's not a perfect project... but it's a good start. It'll get 30 people off the streets.

BDN video interview, Oct. 5, 2026Homelessness 2:22

60% of Bangor are renters. So, that's something I would like to see, some kind of a rent freeze going on... I would like to see some kind of property tax freeze going on.

BDN video interview, Oct. 5, 2026City spending 3:11

Watch them answer

Links open YouTube at the moment the candidate starts answering. Our summaries are above; the video is their own words.

LWV forum, Oct. 7, 2026: League of Women Voters candidate forum, Bangor City Council

Bangor Daily News, Oct. 5, 2026: What Bangor City Council candidates say they'd do to limit drug use and syringe litter

Bangor Daily News, Oct. 5, 2026: How Bangor City Council candidates say they'd work together as a team

Bangor Daily News, Oct. 5, 2026: How City Council candidates say they'll reduce homelessness in Bangor

Bangor Daily News, Oct. 5, 2026: The changes City Council candidates say they'd make to Bangor's budget

Endorsements

Endorsements by groups and public figures, as reported in news coverage or listed on a candidate's own campaign website. Endorsements are listed for information only; VoteBangor does not endorse.

None reported in the coverage or campaign websites we reviewed.

Sources

Last checked Oct. 12, 2026.