Chris Christie said that his tenure as a Republican governor in the blue state of New Jersey sets him apart from other Republican contenders in the presidential race.
“I governed in a blue state, one of the bluest states in this country, as a two-term Republican governor. I got reelected in that blue state with 61% of the vote. What’s that tell you? I made things happen. I know how to make things happen,” Christie said.
Christie added that he believes that one of the biggest frustrations Americans have is that “Washington gets nothing done.”
He went on to say that, unlike GOP governors from red states, he was able to pass legislation by working with Democrats.
“You need a strong leader who can go in there and knows how to do this. And with all due respect to these governors from red states who have Republican legislatures, man I’m telling you I would have given my right arm to have a Republican legislature for a week,” he said.
He then touted his experience as someone who can work across the aisle to accomplish things for the American people.
Some background: Christie was first elected New Jersey governor in 2009, unseating Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine. He easily won reelection in the blue state in 2013. He served as US attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, a period in which he successfully prosecuted the father of Trump’s son-in-law and former aide Jared Kushner on criminal tax evasion and witness tampering charges.
Christie himself was engulfed in the “Bridgegate” scandal during his second term as governor. Emails and texts from top aides showed that the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September 2013, which caused massive traffic jams, stemmed from a political vendetta after the town’s Democratic mayor declined to endorse Christie’s gubernatorial reelection. A federal investigation determined that Christie had no knowledge of the decision to close the lanes, but the scandal continued to follow the former governor.
At the end of his tenure, Christie was highly unpopular in his home state, recording the lowest approval rating for any governor in more than 20 years among states surveyed by the Quinnipiac University Poll.
CNN’s Gregory Krieg and Shania Shelton contributed reporting to this post.
