Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie fired back at former President Donald Trump in what could be the first official shot of the 2024 campaign. Speaking to Axios, Christie responded to Trump’s earlier jab mocking Christie’s ‘low approval’ rating when he left office.
Chris said: “I’ve never walked away from an argument, no matter who stood on the other side. I’m not gonna get into a back-and-forth with Donald Trump.
“But what I will say is this: When I ran for reelection in 2013, I got 60% of the vote. When he ran for reelection, he lost to Joe Biden. I’m happy to have that comparison stand up, because that’s the one that really matters.
“I want to spend my time combating the policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — and trying to help Republicans win governorships and the House and the Senate in 2022.
“This is not an argument that I’ll walk away from. I think it’s much more productive to fight those policies than to fight with other Republicans,” he said.
Christie said earlier: “We can no longer talk about the past and the past elections — no matter where you stand on that issue, no matter where you stand, it is over.
“Every minute that we spend talking about 2020 — while we’re wasting time doing that, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer are laying ruin to this country. We better focus on that and take our eyes off the rearview mirror and start looking through the windshield again.
“Winning campaigns are always the campaigns that look forward, not backward,” Chris said.
Causing Trump to say:
“Chris Christie, who just made a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) in Las Vegas, was just absolutely massacred by his statements that Republicans have to move on from the past.
“Everybody remembers that Chris left New Jersey with a less than 9% approval rating—a record low, and they didn’t want to hear this from him.”
Christie, who served as governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018, did suffer from low approval ratings by the time he ended his second term, but it wasn’t immediately clear where Trump got the 9% figure.
A Quinnipiac University Poll showed Christie with a 15% approval rating in mid-2017, according to a Politico report at the time. When asked about such polls, Christie said, “I don’t care” because he was not again running for public office at the time. Christie won reelection by a wide margin just four years prior.
“Winning campaigns look forward not backwards” Christie said earning only smattering applause.Noting the less-than-enthusiastic response, Christie implored: “That deserves applause. Because if we don’t get it we are going to lose…2020 ”is over”@jwpetersnyt covering @RJC
CLIP: pic.twitter.com/ajtLGQYykC— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) November 7, 2021
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
“Chris Christie, who just made a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) in Las Vegas, was just absolutely massacred by his statements that Republicans have to move on from the past, meaning the 2020 Election Fraud. Everybody remembers… pic.twitter.com/D91UVPHS6t
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) November 8, 2021
“I’m not gonna get into a back-and-forth with Donald Trump. But what I will say is this: When I ran for reelection in 2013, I got 60% of the vote. When he ran for reelection, he lost to Joe Biden.” https://t.co/a8Vp9PmIdD
— David Freedlander (@freedlander) November 11, 2021
