Maine’s Republican Gov. Paul LePage announced his endorsement of Donald Trump on Friday, just hours after the leading GOP presidential candidate received his first major endorsement from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
“One think I like about Donald Trump — I’m not going to say I agree with him on everything — he’s the only candidate who’s showing a vision for the future,” LePage said on the Howie Carr radio show.
LePage said he “had an opportunity” to endorse Christie, but then the New Jersey governor exited the race. The governor of Maine said he spoke with Christie and the two “decided we could do a lot worse.”
“We could have another Obama in there or Hillary Clinton, and we can’t afford that,” he said.
The two-term governor, who’s fairly unpopular in his home state and faced impeachement efforts earlier this year, conceded that 2016 “is just not the year of the governors.” While complimenting the positive campaign of Trump’s opponent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, LePage suggested he decided to endorse the New York businessman because he saw a little of himself in him.
“I was Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular,” he told Carr.
LePage said he had not “spoken with [Trump] directly” before announcing his endorsement, but would like to arrange for the billionaire to visit his state soon.
“I would like to see Donald come to Maine because I think if he could win Maine before Super Tuesday, it would help him,” he said, seeminly unaware that Maine’s Republican primary is scheduled for March 5 – four days after the Super Tuesday nominating contests.
Trump did not immediately respnd to the endorsement, though Carr said the candidate would be joining is program later to react.
