Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was at Rowan University to talk about his vision for the future of the Republican Party. He hasn’t taken his eyes and ears off of Garden State politics since leaving office, taking shots at current Democratic Governor Phil Murphy.
“I have not spoken about my successor for nine months. My successor can’t stop talking about me. Other than Tammy, I’m the second most popular name that comes out of his mouth over the course of the last nine months,” Christie said.
“I inherited a budget with a $2 billion deficit. I left a budget for my successor with a $500 million surplus. There was a lot of crying and complaining about a $500 million surplus. Could you imagine if I’d left him the $2 billion deficit that Corzine left me? There would have been all sorts of crying.”
The outspoken republican governor touted the bi-partisan relationship he had with democratic leadership.
“There’s too many democrats in this state not to work with them. They just need our help. They’re not bad people. They just can’t be trusted all alone by themselves. Because when they’re all alone by themselves, they not only get things wrong, but they can’t even get along with each other. Me, Sweeney, and Oliver look like a love fest compared to what’s going on down there now.”
As far as New Jersey republicans are concerned, Christie says there’s several he views as future state-wide party leaders including Congressman Tom MacArthur and Assembly minority leader Jon Bramnick. When asked about democratic challengers to run against Trump in 2020, Christie believes nobody, “whose business address is in Washington” could win. That includes his friend and current US Senator Cory Booker. He did say however, that there’s a former democratic governor to look out for.
“Watch out for Deval Patrick. Deval Patrick is the former two term Governor of Massachusetts,” Christie said. “Trump will be more challenged if he runs against somebody with executive experience and is outside of Washington.”
During a question and answer segment from students, he spoke about what it was like to run against current president Donald Trump in the 2016 republican presidential primary.
“There’s certain things no matter how skilled you are, no matter how good your plan is, no matter how the times are ready for your type of leadership, if there’s somebody there who is different, or just a little better in certain ways, there’s nothing you can do about it. People ask me if I have any regrets, I really don’t. I did that campaign exactly the way I wanted to do it and I’ve said this before; If Donald Trump wasn’t in the race, I think I’d be president.”
So, would Christie consider another run at the presidency?
“The only way I’d ever run for president again is if I saw a path to win. I don’t want to do it just for the exercise. I enjoyed it when I did it and I feel I made a difference in the race, but I wouldn’t do it just for that. The only way I’d do it again is if I saw a path to winning and right now, I don’t see a path.”