Can you tell me why I shouldn't vote for Chris Christy given the opportunity?

Biden gets under the fascists’ skin more. Vote for him.

Do you mean in a Republican primary against other Republicans, or against Democrats?

As an environmentalist and animal lover, while I observe Christie is not a batshit crazy fascist like Trump or DeSantis, and is clearly much less horrible than them, I wouldn’t vote for Christie because of things like (to quote Wikipedia):

* “On May 26, 2011, Christie announced he would pull the state out of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.[127] This was challenged in court which ruled in March 2014 that Christie had acted illegally in doing so since state regulations do not permit it.[128] His administration sought to repeal the rules.[129]”

* “Christie has rejected permanent bans on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New Jersey and vetoed measures that would ban the process and disposal of hydraulic fracturing waste in the State.”

* “Christie’s settled a lawsuit with Exxon Mobil by allowing the corporation to pay $225 million in damages for environmental contamination at two sites, less than 3% of the $8.9 billion that the state’s lawyers had sought, and extended the compensation to cover other damages not named in the original lawsuit.[131] The settlement was slammed by environmental advocates. David Pringle, state campaign director of Clean Water Action, called it “the biggest corporate subsidy in state history,” vowing to overturn it.[132]”

* “In June 2013, Christie vetoed S1921, an animal welfare bill introduced by the Humane Society of the United States to prohibit the use of gestation crates on pregnant pigs in the state. The bill had passed in the General Assembly with a vote of 60–5 and the Senate 29–4.[137][138][139] A 2013 survey by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. showed 91% of New Jersey voters supported the legislation.[140] An attempt to override the veto did not come to a vote.[141] In October 2014, a similar bill banning gestation crates, S998, was proposed with a vote in the Senate of 32–1 and in the Assembly of 53–13 (with 9 abstentions).[142][143] While campaigning in Iowa in November, in a conversation with the former president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Christie indicated he would veto the bill.[144] He did so on November 27, 2014.[145] The bill’s sponsor, Senator Raymond Lesniak, had vowed to override it.[146]”

And since I support civil rights and LGBTQ people’s rights, I wouldn’t vote for him because he’s acted against same-sex marriages and has tried to fight such law both by veto and by trying to challenge the state Supreme Court.

As a pro-choice person, I wouldn’t support him since he’s anti-abortion and has vetoed funding for Planned Parenthood five times as governor.

He’s set records for unpopularity as Governor of New Jersey: “In June 2017, Quinnipiac found that 15 percent approved of Christie, and 81 percent disapproved. This was the lowest recorded approval rating of a New Jersey governor in history,[232] and the lowest approval rating found for any U.S. governor since Frank Murkowski of Alaska, who registered a 14 percent approval rating in 2006.[233] In a response, Christie said he didn’t care about approval ratings because he was not running for office.[234]”

If you are voting in the Republican primary, Christie is one of the more rational candidates, but he certainly is no angel.

He helped Trump. He blocked a bridge or his staff did, either way he was in charge. I’m not sure where he stands on abortion, I would want to know. Plenty of other reasons I could say don’t vote for him, but of the Republican candidates if you do vote for him, and if he winds up the nominee, at least I’m not in a panic.

I think he is more likely to resist the the pressures from right wing fanatics than other Republican candidates.

I’m ok with your vote for him.

In the end I hope you vote for the Democrat. We cannot give power right now to the Republicans. Other times in history it was ok for balance, although still scary, but now its cray cray. Too many sinister hands at work who have lots of power and money.

Maybe look at Suarez too. Although, he probably doesn’t have a chance.

@Zaku Who would you vote for in the Republican primary?

I’m a Democrat so I would probably not be voting for a Republican. I live in NY and I don’t pay terribly close attention to NJ Governors but I used to think Christie wasn’t half bad. I saw him interviewed on an Oprah Winfrey interview show (not her regular talk show) and I liked him. I felt he wasn’t too far to the right. He seemed reasonable. One thing he did as Governor which was not a good thing was he had the State Police use their helicopter (and therefore their staff police) to fly him to one of his kid’s baseball games. He was found out and had to reimburse the State for the cost. Then Bridgegate came along, and what was found to be retaliation for local Mayors not supporting him, and the bridge, which is a major artery to and from NYC, was all backed up for days, which meant ambulances that can’t get through (meaning people dying) and people unable to get to job interviews and weddings and other important things that were just totally missed because they were stuck in local traffic for hours and unable to get over the bridge. That was the end of him as Governor and he threw his staff under the bus, didn’t support them, didn’t stand by them, said he had no clue it was going on.

I am a Democrat and although Christie wasn’t the worst, and as I said I actually liked him, I feel that the abortion issue is so important right now, keeping fracking at bay is so important right now too.

I think Christie will end up dropping out. I don’t think that he can get under Trump’s skin is a reason to vote for someone.

I would be interested in hearing what Janbb has to say about him, since she lives in the state that he governed.

He’s a power politics corruption machine. Not saying much this day in age, but he’s not a good person. My personal favorite moment of his was over 4th of July weekend, 2017 when state beaches were shut down with the rest of state government because Christie wanted to pressure the legislature to cave on budget negotiations. He then proceeded to take his own family to the governors residence the 10 mile stretch of emptied beach to enjoy the holiday. His response? “It’s the way it goes. Run for governor and then you can have the residence”

He doesn’t actually have political views, only paths to power. He was another member of the prostrate party who subsumed themselves to Trumpism when they realized they couldn’t defeat him, only to turn on him after he lost the 2020 election. Honestly there aren’t any decent people in the top of the republican field anymore. Decency has been liquidated by the right wing power machine.

Didn’t he take his family to the beach after closing all beaches during covid? I seem to remember they had the entire beach by themselves.
Not that this would be a a reason to not vote for him.

Christie is an old-time typical “bad” Conservative and an arrogant blow-hard. He was anti-immigration and would not let many Syrian refugees into the state when they were being terrorized by Assad. He has a certain brashness that can appeal to some in the same way Trump’s does.

All that being said, I would rather have him as the Republican candidate than Trump or DeSantis. I don’t think he would destroy democracy if he were president. I would vote for him in a primary if it were permitted but I would not vote for him for President over the Democratic candidate.

I do applaud him for being the one Republican criticizing Trump.

THANK YOU everyone!!! As I’m sure some of you noticed, I love Christie so much that I didn’t originally spell his name correct. I agree that him getting under 45’s skin is NOT a good reason to vote for him!!! That’s WHY I was asking for more info on him. I knew several jellies live in the NJ area & would have some more specific reasons to trust or not trust him.

I don’t have a political party with which to align. I always found a good balance in flipping every 1 or 2 election cycles as it seemed to keep us balanced…nobody had too much control!!! Then we get 45 & he threatens to make himself king. That does NOT work for me!!! I don’t usually vote in the primary as we normally came out with 2 reasonable choices & I voted as to my idea of the best of the 2. Where I live, I can vote in the Rep primary but not the Dem primary at the same time…yet I can vote for a Dem in the general. I just don’t want 45 or DeSantis as the winner of the primary & still I don’t want to choose a bigger devil…just in case!!! I don’t think Christie got in it to win & mainly wanted the opportunity to drive 45 crazier than normal. I can vote for Christie in the primary & Biden in the general which might be what I end up doing. I don’t feel that I can trust any Rep candidate at this point. I’m tired of voting for the lesser of the 2 evils!!!

He’s on Face the Nation right now, Sunday morning.

Followed up by present NJ Governor Phil Murphy who has some harsh criticisms of Christie.

Good to know…I’ll check it out!!!

Because people like him will lead to the destruction of our planet’s delicate ecosystem and will result in mass extinctions, uninhabitable parts of the planet, mass migrations and ultimately war and famine causing suffering on a scale mankind has never seen before. If you don’t care about any of those things or feel even the slightest obligation to future generations of humanity, I’m sure he’s a swell guy.

I think if you are in one of the first primary states, voting for Christie to antagonize Trump is a decent reason to vote for Christie as long as you are ok if he wins. If there was s a Republican you really like more, then vote for that person, but if you have a toss up between Christie and another then sure, vote for Christie.

Because he was anti-Trump until Trump won than he was pro-Trump. He has no moral compass and does only what is politically expedient for him. He’s a vindictive son of a bitch.

Oh, and the @gorillapaws thing too.

I’m a Pete man, myself.

I don’t like Christy much, but I would vote for him in a hot second if the other choices were Orange Julius Caesar or DeSatan.

There is still LOTS OF TIME before the election! And the Republican Convention hasn’t met yet. Who knows what could possibly happen before then!

@JLeslie I wouldn’t vote in the Republican Primary, unless there were a candidate I supported in it. I don’t know of any Republican POTUS candidates whom I would support. Are there any actually likable ones?

@Zaku I meant if the OP is going to vote in the Republican primary, which one do you think is the best out of the bunch if we might wind up with that person for president.

@JLeslie I’d wait till they narrow the list to research them, but from the list on this NPR article from a month ago

I’d rank them as follows (least bad on top, descending to worse and worse:)

Barring more info, I would choose:

Francis Suarez (the only candidate who seems at least somewhat moderate on some issues, such as admitting climate change is a serious problem)

Supposedly somewhat moderate, though I didn’t see how really in their policies:

Will Hurd
Nikki Haley

This batch I haven’t found much on their actual policies, so my ignorance leaves a chance they might not be arch-conservatives:

Tim Scott ?
Doug Burgum ?
Asa Hutchinson ?

These two are pretty clearly arch-conservatives, but at least they aren’t die-hard Trump supporters:

Christie
Cheney

Crazy Bad-Christian, only slightly preferable to Trump:

Pence

These guys all want to be dictators, abolish other government offices, etc:

Vivek Ramaswamy
DeSantis
Trump

@Zaku I mentioned Suarez too. It will be interesting to see if he makes it past the first round. I live in Florida, so I see him in interviews probably more than most people outside of FL, unless he is on Fox a lot, which I wouldn’t know. I don’t know how he will be on abortion, that’s worrisome with all of the Republicans (for my entire lifetime) but on other issues he has been fairly level headed and non-partisan.

If I’m not mistaken his party affiliation is not listed on the ballot when he ran for mayor.

He is the only Latin American running with the Republicans I think, which could be a big advantage if he made it to the final two. I just don’t see it happening though.

No. That’s up to you. I never tell people how to vote.

@Zaku Suarez is out as he said he’d pardon Trump.

@Caravanfan Wasn’t Christie one of the candidates who most likely wouldn’t pardon Trump?

Pete who? There is a Pete among the Republicans?

@JLeslie No, Pete Buttigieg.

And I wouldn’t trust a word that comes out of Christie’s rat-fink mouth. He was anti-trump until he wasn’t.

@Caravanfan I was lost, because I though the Q was about Republicans.

I can’t defend Christie regarding your accusation, because you are correct about his behavior.

@JLeslie I was lost at your answer because I don’t see the word “Republican” in the OP.

@JLeslie What I mean to say is that the OP just said vote for Christy (sic). It wasn’t clear to me that it was just about Republicans. If we are limiting to just Republicans then I would pick any one who is not or has ever been a Trump bootlicker. (Oh, wait, that would be none of the above)

@Caravanfan I assumed it was a Q about the Republican primary. I could be misinterpreting the OP’s intent with the Q.

Jumping to Christie vs a Democrat in the finals seems like a huge leap to me at this point.