Former Maine Governor threatens to ‘deck’ staffer who was filming him

Former Maine governor Paul LePage, who is running to become the governor again after some time away from office, threatened a Democratic Party staffer who was filming LePage at a campaign event last weekend.

LePage, appearing at a campaign event in Madawaska, became angry at the staffer, who evidently got too close for LePage’s comfort. “Six feet away, or I’m going to deck you,” video shows LePage saying to the staffer. “Come into my space, you’re going down. Enough is enough,” he adds, pointing his finger aggressively at them. 

The Republican gubernatorial candidate, whose campaign has largely centered around proving he has changed since he left office in 2018 after term limits prevented him from running for reelection, was once called “America’s Craziest Governor,” according to the Daily Beast, after he threatened to “blow up” the Portland Press Herald office and challenged a political opponent to a duel and left a “threatening” voicemail for him. 

“When he was governor, he often threatened people with violence and with the power of his office—I saw it firsthand,” said the recipient of the voicemail, Drew Gattine, the chairman of the Maine Democratic Party.

LePage endorsed former president Donald Trump in 2016 and in 2017 Trump encouraged LePage to run against Independent Senator Angus King. LePage once referred to himself as “Donald Trump before Trump himself.”