Report: President Trump wants Maine Gov. Paul LePage to run for Senate

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Sen. Paul LePage? That's what President Trump wants for the current Maine governor, according to a news report.

Trump is pushing LePage to run for the Senate in 2018, White House advisers told the Washington Post. If LePage were to run, he'd be up against Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

King told Buzzfeed News that he had no comment on the report.

Perhaps Trump wanting LePage in the Senate shouldn't be a surprise. LePage, who has served as Maine's governor since 2011, endorsed Trump early in his presidential campaign and, like the president, is known for his controversial comments.

Some of the snafus LePage has experienced:

Need to apologize after calling student protesters idiots and storming offstage

Saying Indian immigrants were "lovely people, but you've got to have an interpreter"

Suggesting that he makes up fake stories to mislead reporters

LePage has previously expressed interest in running for Congress. But as of May, he insisted that he wanted to focus on being governor.

"The governor will remain focused on the job at hand and not enter the United States Senate race in 2018," LePage political adviser Brent Littlefield said in the May statement.