Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addressed a fully packed Whig Senate Hall Chamber Tuesday evening in a highly-anticipated event hosted by American Whig-Cliosophic Society.
His talk addressed his views on the next gubernatorial race in New Jersey, where he launched into a full-throated critique of Democratic candidate Sean Spiller, targeting his deep ties to teachers’ unions. Christie also divulged his perspectives on President-elect Donald Trump’s re-election, critiquing the newly announced cabinet picks.
Christie, a Republican, served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. He later ran to be the Republican nominee for President in the 2016 and 2024 Republican primaries, failing to gain traction each time. Before both, he served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008.
When asked by Kyler Zhou ’27, the conversation’s moderator, about the highlights of his tenure as New Jersey Governor, Christie said “the first was winning” against an incumbent Democratic governor — Jon Corzine — in a blue state. Zhou is a former News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
“I think the rebuilding and recovery of the state is something that I’m proud of,” Christie said referring to Hurricane Sandy, a 2012 storm that devastated the New Jersey coastline during his tenure. “Think about rebuilding 346,000 homes. That’s a lot.”
“I was out there, I was visible,” he continued, “they knew I cared. They knew I was listening. They knew I was trying to do my best.”
After Christie left the governor’s office in 2018, Democrat Phil Murphy took the helm of the Garden State. Murphy, however, is prohibited from running for a third term, meaning that a new governor will be elected next fall.
When asked about what he hopes the next governor will prioritize, Christie first turned to the issue of the state’s education system. He called for the establishment of more charter schools, saying that merely increasing public school founding does not improve student outcomes.
“Go to Paterson, go to Jersey City, and look at the level of education those children are getting,” Christie said. “We are paying $35,000 a year per pupil and those kids are not getting educated.”
Christie blamed union bureaucracy for the state’s public education woes.
“I have great respect for teachers,” Christie said. “I wish they had a union as good as they are, because they don’t.”
Of the contenders seeking the governorship in 2025, Christie articulated particular disdain for Sean Spiller, the president of the New Jersey Education Association, echoing his criticism of teachers’ unions.
“I couldn’t support the president of the teacher’s union running for governor,” Christie said. “If you could imagine something more catastrophic than that, write to me at my email address.”
Thoughts on the presidential election
To open the conversation, Christie described his transformation from a supporter of Trump to a harsh critic of the President-elect.
During the 2016 presidential election, Christie endorsed Donald Trump after suspending his own campaign and was named the leader of Trump’s transition planning team. However, he later retracted his support for Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack.
Christie chalked up what he described as a hesitancy to join the initial Trump administration in 2016 to personal moral qualms. He reportedly turned down several cabinet position offers during the first Trump administration.
“I think these people are people who just decided that their ambition is more important than doing what they normally would believe is right,” Christie said. “They make the compromises and rationalizations for his conduct and his actions that I just couldn’t make any longer.”
Christie also took a stab at Trump’s recent wave of controversial nominations of Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth ’03 to key positions within his administration.
“I think it’s pretty clear from the number of people Trump named that they weren’t vetted,” he noted.
Christie noted that the future of the Republican party would be closely tied to Trump. Despite his critical comments, he shared an optimistic view of the future of the country saying that it is “an extraordinarily strong country” and that Trump was “not going to ruin America.”
He also reflected on his own run for the top-job in 2016 and 2024 — and eventual withdrawal.
“It is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Christie said, referring to the campaigning process. “There’s nothing close to how relentless and grueling it is, how bright the spotlight is, how tough it is on your family and on your friends, and so if you’re going to do that, you want to believe you have a chance to win.”
Christie’s 2024 presidential campaign came years after leaving the governor’s mansion six years prior with a historically-low approval rating of 14 percent. Christie’s popularity as a Republican governor in a Democratic-leaning state peaked earlier in his term, though he ultimately chose to forego a run in 2012.
Christie told the audience that he “did not feel ready to be president” in 2012, swiping aside a comparison made by an attendee to New York Governor Mario Cuomo’s last-minute decision not to run in 1992.
“I made a decision on a basis: can you look someone in the eye and ask them for their money … and say I’m the best person to be President of the United States,” Christie said. “I couldn’t do that.”
Reflecting on the latest presidential election, Christie also divulged his thoughts on Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the presidential election but won the state of New Jersey by a narrow 5.5 percentage point margin. From his perspective, she was the obvious choice for the candidacy.
“I don’t know whether she was the best Democratic candidate or not, but I will tell you this,” Christie said. “She was the only Democratic candidate who could have taken over with 107 days to go.”
Eojin Park is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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