In case you missed it, today the Daily Beast reported that Paul LePage threatened to punch a Maine Democratic Party staffer. In the video footage posted by the national news outlet, taken during the Madawaska Acadian Festival earlier this week, LePage yells at the staffer, “Six feet away, or I’m going to deck you. If you come into my space, you’re going down.”
According to the Daily Beast, the threatening outburst shows the hollowness of LePage’s campaign claims that he’s changed:
LePage has reportedly “mellowed out” and has branded himself privately as “LePage 2.0.” In early interviews for his 2022 bid, he sounded more like a concerned centrist than the bomb-thrower he was known to be, telling a Maine interviewer that the country needs to “find a path to have civil discourse.”
LePage’s threatening of the Democratic Party staffer—at a campaign stop in the northern Maine town of Madawaska on Sunday—is far more in line with the behavior of LePage 1.0.
In response to the incident, Maine Democratic Party Chair Drew Gattine released the following statement:
“Paul LePage was, is, and always will be a bully. When he was governor, he often threatened people with violence and with the power of his office—I saw it firsthand. This latest threatening outburst just goes to show that he’s the same as he’s always been. Maine people deserve better than Paul LePage and his hatred and division.”