(NewsNation) — Former Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has made a name for himself as a conservative blue state governor with a track record of dealing with “big issues.”
Because of his role as governor of New Jersey, Christie was considered by some to be a front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. His involvement in the Bridgegate controversy, however, hurt his chances. Running again for president in 2024, Christie dropped out days before the Iowa caucus.
Even with his unsuccessful 2016 and 2024 campaigns, Christie’s name has come up as it becomes time for current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to announce who he’s picking as his running mate.
Trump has hinted that people won’t “be that surprised” by his choice for vice president, The Hill reported.
Asked about the matter by Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier at a January town hall, Trump answered that he’d be willing to consider anyone who ran against him.
“I’ve already started to like [Chris Christie] better,” Trump said despite the two having a contentious relationship at times.
Still, Christie previously said in a Newsmax interview that he wouldn’t accept the position.
“I spoke to Mike Pence. The job doesn’t sound like it was too great,” Christie said.
Here’s what you need to know about Christie and his political views:
- Christie’s relationship with Donald Trump
- Abortion
- Border
- Guns
- Israel and Ukraine
- Economy
- Culture Wars
- Foreign Policy
- Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis
- Climate Change
- Social Security, Medicare
Who is Chris Christie?
Born on Sept. 6, 1962, in New Jersey, Christie stayed in the state until going to college at the University of Delaware. He then returned to New Jersey for law school at Seton Hall University.
After law school, Christie went into private practice. In 1994, he was elected to the Board of Chosen Freeholders in Morris County, New Jersey, becoming its director three years later.
Christie became the U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey in 2002. His administration, according to the National Governors Association, “focused on fiscal responsibility, job creation, pension and health benefits reform and education reform.”
During the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial election, Christie defeated Democrat Jon Corzine and would go on to hold the position for the next eight years.
While governor, Christie’s popularity soared after leading New Jersey through Hurricane Sandy, Vox wrote, but his reputation was marred by Bridgegate, which involved four days of traffic jams on the George Washington Bridge spanning the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey.
Christie and his wife, Mary Pat, have four children.
Chris Christie and Trump’s relationship
Christie was introduced to Trump by the latter’s sister in 2002, the New York Times reported.
Years later, in 2015, the two men declared their candidacies for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 election.
Two months after Trump announced he was running for president, Christie said in a Fox News appearance he didn’t have the “temperament” or experience for the position. Trump, meanwhile, “taunted” Christie, then the governor, for being absent from New Jersey, the Times wrote. However, when it became clear Trump would nab the nomination, Christie endorsed him after ending his campaign, becoming his coach for debates and leading his presidential transition team.
Things soured between the two, though, when Trump claimed fraud after losing the 2020 election to current President Joe Biden. Christie said he told Trump to concede to Biden. Trump said that “he would never, ever, ever, ever do that,” Christie said, “and that was the last time we spoke.”
Christie repeatedly attacked Trump before the 2024 primary elections, calling the former president a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog” who is “obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, never admits a fault, who always finds someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong—but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right.”
At the same time, Trump attacked Christie with insults of his own, calling his former opponent a “bum” and making disparaging comments about his weight.
Even as the two have fought, Trump insinuated that Christie has still not completely been eliminated from consideration as vice president. The ex-governor, meanwhile, has continued to make his opposition to Trump known while still ruling out voting for President Joe Biden in November as well.
“We have two awful choices here, in my view,” he said during a February appearance on “The View.” “The only thing I will commit to is: I’m not voting for Trump under any circumstances.”
What are Chris Christie’s political views?
Christie, while a conservative, has broken with not only Trump on several issues but also other Republicans. For instance, he has advocated for the United States giving more aid to Ukraine, even when other GOP politicians’ support for it waned. In addition, while Christie has criticized Democratic President Joe Biden on a number of issues, he has also taken aim on Trump’s positions over China and immigration.
Abortion
- Christie describes himself as “pro-life.”
- He supports exceptions to abortion bans in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is at risk.
- He does not support a federal ban on abortion and instead has argued that the issue should be addressed at the state level.
Border crisis and immigration
- Christie has blamed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the border crisis but said Trump is even more at fault for the country’s failed immigration policy.
Assault weapons ban, gun control and crime
- According to Christie, his position on guns has evolved, and he does not support an assault weapons ban.
- He argues that gun control would not stop “mass shootings” and that addressing mental health struggles is most important.
Stance on Israel and Palestine, the war in Ukraine
- Christie visited Israel in November 2023 and said the U.S. must stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Israel in its war against the Hamas militant group
- Christie, during his now-defunct campaign, was the second 2024 Republican presidential hopeful to visit Ukraine, touring ravaged villages and meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
- He has said what he saw during his Ukraine visit further impressed upon him the need for the U.S. to continue aid.
Inflation and economy
- Christie has criticized both Biden and Trump for the current state of the economy. He’s called Biden “the Jimmy Carter of the 2020s.”
- Christie has criticized the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, calling it “a mistake.”
Education, culture wars and curriculum
- During an interview with USA Today last July, Christie slammed education culture wars and said the government is not “a better parent than parents.”
- Christie took a swipe at first lady Jill Biden’s status as a teachers union member at a GOP debate in September 2023. “This public school system is no longer run by the public. It is run by the teachers unions in this country,” Christie said.
- He has also gone after fellow Republican Florida Gov. DeSantis over his response to the Florida Board of Education’s standards on how African American history will be taught in schools.
China and Taiwan foreign policy
- Christie criticized the Biden administration’s approach to dealing with China and said Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing in June 2023 came “a day late and a dollar short.”
- Trump’s “trade wars” with China helped drive inflation, Christie said last year. “You can’t say he was good on trade, because he didn’t trade. He didn’t change one Chinese policy in the process. He failed on it,” Christie said at the time.
Fentanyl crisis, opioid epidemic
- Christie has previously said he would deploy National Guard troops to the southern border to combat drug trafficking.
- In 2017, Christie chaired the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. He has spoken openly about his longtime friend who died alone with empty bottles of Percocet.
Climate change
- When asked about net-zero emissions by 2050, Christie said he favors an “all-of-the-above strategy” with energy.
- In 2022, Christie called for more domestic oil production.
- Christie was an early adopter when it comes to climate change, acknowledging its realities before many in his party. In 2015, Christie said he believes climate change is real and that humans contribute to it. “I think global warming is real. I don’t think that’s deniable,” Christie said at a New Hampshire event, according to MSNBC. “And I do think human activity contributes to it.”
Social Security, Medicare
- At the November RNC debate in Miami, Christie took aim at “rich people” and said they “should not be collecting Social Security.”
- “I don’t know if Warren Buffett is collecting Social Security, but if he is, ‘Shame on you,’” Christie said. “You shouldn’t be taking the money.”
- He also said that Social Security and Medicare cuts are a necessary “political risk” in today’s economy.
NewsNation’s Cassie Buchman, Tyler Wornell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
