Maine Gov. Paul LePage is eying up a 2018 Senate bid against Independent Sen. Angus King.
The Republican governor told “The Howie Carr Show” that he was “thinking about it very strongly,” according to the Portland Press Herald. “I think we need leadership in Washington. Yeah, I might do that.”
{mosads}It’s not the first time LePage has suggested he’s studying a Senate bid. During an interview on the same radio talk show earlier this year, he said that he was “considering it.”
But the governor quickly walked back his earlier comments, telling local Maine TV station WMTW that he was joking, adding, “Listen, you’ve heard the saying too big to fail — well in Washington, it’s too big to work.”
King’s up for reelection in 2018 and said earlier this year that he plans to run. King, a former governor, won the seat in 2012 with more than 52 percent of the vote after Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) retired.
LePage, who cannot run for another term as governor, is known for making controversial remarks, including calling the IRS the “new Gestapo” and telling the NAACP to “kiss my butt.” He won reelection last year with 48 percent of the vote, defeating then-Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) despite being considered vulnerable.
A representative for LePage didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.