‘Prove I’m a racist’: Maine governor leaves expletive-laden voicemail for lawmaker

Governor Paul LePage suggested earlier this year that black men came to Maine to sell drugs and impregnate white women

LePage said he was angry to be accused of racism which drove him to leave the voicemail (AP)

The governor of Maine has run into more controversy after he left an explicit voicemail for a democrat lawmaker, asking him to “prove” the accusations that he was a “racist”.

Paul LePage left the message for state representative Drew Gattine, according to the Portland Press Herald.

The uncensored audio clip contains several explicit and derogatory phrases.

The Republican governor is known for not mincing his words.

The governor’s voicemail was left in response to Mr Gattine’s reportedly calling the governor a racist to local media, though Mr Gattine has denied this.

Mr LePage insisted he was not a racist, despite making comments this week that drug dealers are “90 plus per cent… black and Hispanic people.”

"Mr Gattine, this is governor Paul Richard LePage," the audio recording said.

"I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you [expletive]. I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I'm a racist. I've spent my life helping black people and you little [expletive], socialist [expletive]. You — I need you to — just friggin'. I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you."

On the same day, he challenged Mr Gattine to a dual and called him a "snot-nosed little runt" and threatened to point a gun "right between his eyes".

The governor apologised for the voicemail on Friday, but said being called a racist was "the absolute worst, most vile thing you can call a person".

He supported Ted Cruz during the state primary but later became a strong Donald Trump supporter. Mr Trump’s campaign recently hired his daughter, Lauren LePage, to work on the election.

In January, Mr LePage said that "95 percent of Maine is white" and that black men come to the state to impregnate white women and deal drugs.

In August, he then defended those comments and said he had since kept a record of everyone who was arrested for drug dealing in the state to prove they are mostly black men.

"The fact of the matter is that people from New York and Connecticut are coming to Maine and they are killing our citizens. That’s a fact," he said at a town hall meeting.

In 2013 he reportedly said at a private event that President Barack Obama "hates white people".