During a rally in Lexington, Kentucky, the night before that state’s gubernatorial election, President Donald Trump called Republican Gov. Matt Bevin a “pain in the ass.” He appeared to mean it as a compliment.

“Now he is difficult, I have to say, maybe it costs him the election, but it’s OK,” Trump said of Bevin, who is in a tight race against Democratic challenger Andy Beshear. “When he needs something for Kentucky like money, like aid, he wants me to call one of the many manufacturers now that are coming into Kentucky, ‘Could you call the head of some company in Japan, please?’ I say, ‘Matt, do I have to?’ ‘Please, please.’ But isn’t that what you really want in a governor? That’s what you want. He’s such a pain in the ass, but that’s what you want.”