America's self-stylized 'Trump before Trump' Paul LePage threatens to 'deck' Democrat staffer who was filming him during campaign event in Maine

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A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Maine who once billed himself as 'Donald Trump before Donald Trump' threatened to 'deck' a Democratic staffer during a campaign event over the weekend, new video shows.

Paul LePage, who earned the title of America's 'craziest governor' while leading the state of Maine from 2011 to 2019, is running for his old seat again in November.

The brash former governor has made headlines for outrageous and racist statements in the past, such as infamously joking about bombing one of his state's largest newspapers and claiming 'guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty' are coming to Maine to sell drugs and 'impregnate a young white girl.'

Despite telling reporters in 2019 that he was finished with politics and would 'retire and go to Florida,' LePage has reportedly returned to present a more 'mellowed out' image in order to appeal to the majority moderate voters in his home state.

But that effort was seemingly undercut by a video obtained by the Daily Beast that purports to show LePage threatening someone who caught the ex-governor off-guard as he walked over a puddle of mud at the outdoor event.

LePage, appearing startled at how close the person filming got, says in the recording, 'Six feet away or I'm gonna deck you.'

With one hand the ex-governor points to someone behind the camera, and clutches a donut with the other.

'If you come into my space, you’re going down,' he adds.

Paul LePage is running for his old seat as governor of Maine after having led the state from 2011 to 2019

He's known for making bombastic comments such as joking about attacking a newsroom and telling the NAACP to 'kiss my butt'

Three men wearing LePage's campaign gear chuckle while surrounding the politician.

LePage says at the end of the recording, 'Enough is enough. Six feet away.'

It's not clear what happened before or after the video. 

The person who recorded is reportedly a staffer for the Democratic Party of Maryland. 

LePage's top campaign adviser Brent Littlefield did not address DailyMail.com's request for more context, but said: 'Paul LePage is not like most people, he was homeless as a child and was forced to live on the streets, overcoming tremendous odds to earn an advanced college degree, become a successful Maine businessman, Mayor, and Governor.' 

The Maine GOP told DailyMail.com, 'In a world where we just saw someone attempt to stab Lee Zeldin and Salman Rushdie forced to fight for his life after being stabbed multiple times, it's no surprise that Paul LePage was unhappy with this paid Democratic Party Staffer getting so close in such a sneaky manner.'

'There are few Maine elected officials who have faced as many threats of personal harm because of their political positions as Paul LePage. There are also few Maine elected officials who grew up in an abusive home like Gov. LePage did. That means he is under a different level of personal threat than most,'  said Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party.

'There's a simple solution here: trackers should respect candidates' personal space. Filming is one thing, but this encounter went beyond that.'

He's also the second governor to have supported Donald Trump's 2016 presidential primary campaign

The Maine Democratic Party confirmed to DailyMail.com that it was their staffer involved in the incident.

'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,' Maine Democratic Party Chair Drew Gattine said.

'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.'

LePage is running against Maine's incumbent Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat.

He rose to the governorship more than a decade ago on a wave of Tea Party support fueled by Republican backlash against Barack Obama.

Then LePage closely aligned himself with Donald Trump by becoming only the second governor to endorse him for president in 2016 during the Republican primary.

LePage is running against Maine's incumbent Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat

'I was Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular. So I think I should support him because we’re one of the same cloth,' he said on the Howie Carr Show in February of that year.

He also said Trump's opponents at the time, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, were 'killing the brand' of the Republican Party.  

NBC reported in June that LePage is now in a 'different era' of his politics.

'What he’s trying to do is not necessarily change his policy, but take some of the rough edges off,' political scientist Mark Brewer told the outlet.

Much like Trump, LePage recently cast doubt on his state's elections at a campaign stop in Mount Vernon on August 8.

'I will say in Maine, I have great confidence in small towns — I’d say towns with less than 1,000 people — because usually the clerks know everybody in town, so I have a lot of confidence,' he said according to the Courier-Gazette.

Referring to the state's big and bluer cities, he added: 'I have less confidence when you get to Bangor, Rockland, Lewiston, Portland, South Portland. Those are areas you got to be a little bit more careful. There was 163,000 people who voted in the last presidential election that didn’t have any IDs.'