Maine Gov. Paul LePage was against Donald Trump before he was for him.
The controversial governor endorsed Trump on Friday, hours after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie jolted the presidential contest with a surprise endorsement of the big-talking billionaire.
Just days earlier, though, LePage urged fellow Republican governors to sign on to a letter “to the people” disavowing Trump, according to a New York Times report Saturday. The account is part of account of frantic, disorganized and unsuccessful efforts among Republican officials to slow Trump’s march to the Republican presidential nomination.
After a warning from Karl Rove, the top political strategist for former President George W. Bush, that a Trump nomination would be disastrous for the GOP, LePage on Feb. 20 urged fellow Republican governors gathered in Washington to write an open letter “to the people,” denouncing Trump and his divisive politics, according to the report.
Trump is on a three-state winning streak ahead of the 11 contests on Super Tuesday on March 1.
LePage’s office told the Washington Examiner that he was impressed by Trump reaching out to governors “to find experienced people he can work during his campaign and into his administration.”
He first wanted to see a govenor become the nominee, but “the American people decided not to support the governors in the race,” his office said.
The Maine governor has a penchant for controversial statements. He was accused of racism last month when he said drug dealers named D-Money, Smoothie and Shifty, come to Maine from New York or Connecticut to sell heroin.
“Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because now we have another issue that we have to deal with down the road,” LePage said at a January town hall event.
