SPRINGVALE — The kids are in the kitchen, watching their mother Paulina and the family’s youngest, Michael, work together making cupcakes for a Valentine event at school.

Adam Cote  gets a warm noisy welcome from all five kids when he arrives home, a few minutes later than expected. 

It is another night in the Cote household.

Those days and nights could change as the year progresses. Cote, 43, an attorney with  the Portland law firm Drummond Woodsum, and who will soon mark 20 years with the Maine Army National Guard, including deployments in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, is thinking about his and his family’s future, and the future of Maine.

Cote, in an interview at his home Tuesday, said he is eyeing a run for the Democratic primary for governor.

“I’m strongly leaning toward making a run, I’ll make a final decision soon,” said Cote.

His political experience is sparse — something he sees as an advantage — and includes an unsuccessful bid  in the 2008 Democratic primary for U.S. Congress. He came second in a crowded field of six, losing to Chellie Pingree in his first bid for public office. Pingree went on to win the 1st District race over Republican Charlie Summers.

It could be an equally crowded Democratic field this time around, with a host of names popping up as possible candidates, like Attorney General Janet Mills, former House Speaker Mark Eves and several others. As well, there’s a social media page asking folks to draft Maine Senate Minority Leader Troy Jackson for the Democratic nod.

In his hometown, Cote served two years on the Sanford School Committee, is a member of the St. Thomas School Board and has served on a number of regional boards, like the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Commission.

“I think we need someone going in from the  outside,” he said.

Cote pointed to his mill town roots  — “I was born here,” he said, noting those roots are shared all over Maine, in places like Biddeford, Saco, Millinocket, Bucksport, Fort Kent and a host of others. 

He said he’s been meeting with community and business leaders and believes Maine needs a “bottom up“ approach to solving the jobs crunch and bolstering the economy. 

While some parts of Maine are hard hit by paper mill closures,  employers in southern Maine, particularly large installations like Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and Pratt & Whitney, are experiencing challenges in finding  skilled workers  to fill vacancies created by new orders and workers who are retiring. 

“Each region of Maine is different, we should focus on competitive advantages,” said Cote. “It can’t be an Augusta-driven approach.”

He pointed out that when he ran for Congress in 2008, he won in rural areas and in mill towns.

“What resonated with people is someone coming from that similar type of background,” he said. 

Cote is a graduate of Colby College and the University of  Maine School of Law. 

He was deployed to Bosnia as part of a peacekeeping mission in the late 1990s, was later deployed  to Iraq and later still, Afghanistan where he served as commander of the 133rd Engineering Battalion. He earned a bronze star for his command of two units in Afghanistan — his own and another.

As well as his work leading Drummond Woodsum’s  Energy and Utilities practice group, Cote is co-founder of  Thermal Energy Storage. In 2014, he was named by former President Obama as a “Champion of Change,” as a veteran advancing clean energy and climate security.

He said towns and cities are looking for guidance, support and the time and space they need to grow their economies.

Cote said  his  approach — should he decide to get into the race — would unify Democrats and  excite Independents and Republicans looking for positive leadership.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].