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Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3 Polls 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Cross Insurance Center
04

Candidate for Bangor City Council · Nov. 3, 2026

Anthony Cote

Answered our survey

Top priority: Make Bangor more business-friendly and rebuild the local economy. BDN, Sept. 22

About Anthony

Cote runs a construction company and points to his business budgeting experience. He says building in Bangor is made harder by regulations and permitting. BDN, Sept. 22LWV forum, Oct. 7

On the ballot as
Cote, Anthony Ray
Ballot position
4 of 12
Age
43
Work
Owner of Maine Construction Solutions
Ties to Bangor
Born in Bangor and has lived there most of his life
Party
Declined to say; describes himself as a centrist
Council meetings attended
Estimates 10 to 12 council meetings in the past year
Public record
No prior elected office reported. Took part in the League of Women Voters candidate forum, Oct. 7, 2026.

Where Cote stands

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

Homelessness

Wants to review the police homelessness protocol, which offers services before citing or arresting people for certain offenses. BDN, Sept. 22 1:45:14 3:18

Drug use and syringe programs

Wants a lower limit on how many syringes a person can get from an exchange and says distribution enables addiction. Wants syringe litter cleaned up. Calls the current exchange limits, which he described as 100 to one, too aggressive. BDN, Sept. 22BDN, Oct. 5 2:44

Public safety and policing

Running on "law and order." Says enforcing laws and ordinances equally for everyone would solve most problems; wants police and the sheriff's office to work together and more county jail capacity. LWV forum, Oct. 7 2:33:16

Housing and rent

Questions why new apartments are going up in neighboring Levant rather than Bangor, and says the city should work with local businesses and become more welcoming to builders. Fox Bangor, Sept. 18

Property taxes and the city budget

Would cut nonessential spending and focus on police, fire and core services. Opposes funding nonprofits through tax increases and worries rising taxes push older homeowners out. BDN, Sept. 22 2:09:57 5:11

Jobs, business and the economy

Top priority is a business-friendly Bangor with simpler permitting, and a larger tax base to keep property taxes from rising. Says developers build in Levant and Hermon instead of Bangor because of the city's zoning, permitting and energy codes. BDN, Sept. 22LWV forum, Oct. 7 1:31:47 2:00:41

How the council works

Says the current council has wasted considerable time. BDN, Sept. 22 2:28:47 3:42

Data centers and license plate cameras

No public position found in the sources we reviewed.

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 Supports asking the question first, but says a well-placed data center could help the economy. 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.Yes Says the city should find out whether the programs work; existing ones would continue. 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.Undecided Wants to see how well the position is working first. BDN, Oct. 7
Increased school budgetThe School Committee proposed a $65.8 million budget, up 5.6% from the year before.Undecided Would need to learn more; thinks school budgets are growing too fast. 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.No Says a similar state law already exists. 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.No Prefers tax deals that bring money into Bangor, and private rather than tax-funded charity. 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 freezeNo Opposes rent control. VoteBangor, Oct. 10

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 want to just listen to the citizens, and really just focus on law and order, bringing law and order back to Bangor.

League of Women Voters forum, Oct. 7, 2026Why I'm running 57:31

The easy solution is increase the tax base. We need businesses in Bangor. We need to be business friendly... We can't have our tax base only residents and homeowners paying.

League of Women Voters forum, Oct. 7, 2026Keeping seniors in their homes 2:09:57

Enforcing the laws and ordinances is the biggest thing. I think if we were to enforce the laws and ordinances of Bangor, the same with everybody, that it would solve 90% of our problems.

League of Women Voters forum, Oct. 7, 2026Downtown, homelessness and the police 2:33:16

I think that it's crazy that there's different rules for different people based on housing situations... As far as syringe litter, I think it's completely unacceptable.

BDN video interview, Oct. 5, 2026Syringes 3:06

I would try and encourage them to get help if they're addicted. I don't think that I would promote enabling them to stay addicted.

BDN video interview, Oct. 5, 2026Homelessness 3:42

If we have to raise taxes to do it, it should be unacceptable, because we should be more concerned with the elderly being taxed out of their houses than we should be with other pet projects.

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

Tonight, I want to talk about the double standard people see or perceive when laws and ordinances are not enforced in Bangor.

Public comment, City Council, Sept. 28, 2026Public comment on enforcement 15:56

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 City Council candidates say they'll reduce homelessness in Bangor

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: 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.

  • Concerned Citizens of Bangor (political action committee) BDN, Oct. 9

Sources

Last checked Oct. 10, 2026.