--- title: Maine Governor Paul LePage Sorry for 'White Girl' Remarks description: "My brain was slower than my mouth" canonical: https://time.com/4172603/paul-lepage-chris-christie-maine-2016-election/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-08T16:03:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:35.560Z article:section: Politics og:title: Maine Governor Sorry for 'White Girl' Remarks og:description: "My brain was slower than my mouth" og:url: https://time.com/4172603/paul-lepage-chris-christie-maine-2016-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76e8eeec3f35727c/69887827cd1bba49816fed6f/gettyimages-468502316.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Governor Paul LePage holds a Town Hall Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Maine Governor Sorry for 'White Girl' Remarks twitter:description: "My brain was slower than my mouth" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76e8eeec3f35727c/69887827cd1bba49816fed6f/gettyimages-468502316.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Maine Governor Sorry for 'White Girl' Remarks > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mQUMUx2k.m3u8) (4:00)  _Published 2015-12-16. Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 8, 2016 4:03 PM UTC  Maine Governor Paul LePage holds a Town Hall Meeting to discuss his tax reform plan at Thornton Academy in Saco. Maine Governor Paul LePage holds a Town Hall Meeting to discuss his tax reform plan at Thornton Academy in Saco. Portland Press Herald—Press Herald via Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 8, 2016 4:03 PM UTC Maine Gov. [Paul LePage](http://time.com/3943271/chris-christie-paul-lepage/) [apologized](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/maine-gov-paul-lepage-apologizes-racist-remark-n492776) Friday for [racially charged remarks](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/07/gov-paul-lepage-of-maine-a-christie-supporter-makes-racially-charged-remarks/) that implied black drug traffickers were coming into his state and impregnating white women, even as he faulted the media for focusing more on his rhetorical failings than the drug epidemic itself. “My brain was slower than my mouth,” LePage, a Republican, told reporters in Augusta, Maine. But he didn’t back down from his stance that out-of-state drug traffickers are a problem. “Get your heads out of the sand please. Help us,” LePage said. “I’m sorry I’m not like you guys, but I have a heart. I have a heart for Maine people.” “Personally, I don’t really care what the press thinks about me,” he added. “What I do care is I want the drug dealers to know I’m after them…I want the Maine people to know that I may have a slip of the tongue but my heart is to protect Maine people and that’s the end of the story.” LePage’s comments Wednesday were an unwelcome political headache for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s presidential campaign. [LePage was one of the first governor to endorse Christie’s White House run](http://time.com/3943271/chris-christie-paul-lepage/), and Christie has campaigned for LePage and praised his leadership. LePage was [responding to a question](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/07/politics/paul-lepage-maine-heroin/) at a town hall Wednesday about his administration’s efforts to combat the state’s growing drug problem, when he used racially-charged language to describe out-of-state drug dealers who wreck havoc and then flee, [the Portland _Press Herald_](http://www.pressherald.com/2016/01/07/lepage-accused-of-making-racist-comment-at-bridgton-meeting/) reports. “These aren’t the people who take drugs,” LePage said at the time. “These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty. These type of guys. They come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, then they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we’ve go to deal with down the road.” A spokesman for LePage quickly said the governor comments [weren’t about race](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/07/politics/paul-lepage-maine-heroin/), rather that he was addressing what is a growing problem for Maine. But LePage faced widespread criticism for the remarks. –_With reporting by Philip Elliot_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4172603/paul-lepage-chris-christie-maine-2016-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4172603/paul-lepage-chris-christie-maine-2016-election/"},"headline":"Maine Governor Sorry for 'White Girl' Remarks","datePublished":"2016-01-08T16:03:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:35.560Z","description":"\"My brain was slower than my mouth\"","url":"https://time.com/4172603/paul-lepage-chris-christie-maine-2016-election/","keywords":["States","Hillary Clinton","Maine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76e8eeec3f35727c/69887827cd1bba49816fed6f/gettyimages-468502316.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76e8eeec3f35727c/69887827cd1bba49816fed6f/gettyimages-468502316.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Governor Paul LePage holds a Town Hall Meeting","caption":"Governor Paul LePage holds a Town Hall Meeting","creditText":"Portland Press Herald—Press Herald via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/states/","name":"States"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4172603/paul-lepage-chris-christie-maine-2016-election/","name":"Maine Governor Sorry for 'White Girl' Remarks"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes","description":"Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mQUMUx2k/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-16T05:38:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mQUMUx2k.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4172603/paul-lepage-chris-christie-maine-2016-election/","duration":"PT4M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4172603/paul-lepage-chris-christie-maine-2016-election/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```