Chris Christie announces 2016 presidential campaign
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and first lady Mary Pat Christie greet supporters at Livingston High School in Livingston, N.J. (Photo: Julio Cortez/AP)
Chris Christie is running for president, he announced today at his alma mater, Livingston High School in New Jersey, becoming the 14th Republican candidate to enter the 2016 presidential race.
“America is tired of handwringing and indecisiveness and weakness in the Oval Office,” the New Jersey governor said today to a cheering crowd. “We need to have strength and decision-making and authority back in the Oval office and that is why today I am proud to announce my candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of the United States of America.
The tough-talking moderate Republican’s campaign slogan is: “Tell It Like It Is.” And when it came to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, he did just that.
“After seven years of a weak and feckless foreign policy, we better not turn it over to his second mate, Hillary Clinton,“ Christie said.
On Saturday, Christie unveiled his presidential campaign site. A day later a short video was posted showing a more personal side of the governor in a town-hall style setting.
“I get accused a lot of times of being too blunt and too direct and saying what’s on my mind just a little bit too loudly,” Christie says in the video. “I know if my mom were still alive, she would say to me, ‘I taught you that in a trusting relationship, you don’t hold anything back’.”
Christie’s decision to run for the presidency comes after months of speculation as to whether the governor would throw his hat into an already crowded field of GOP candidates.
In the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll last month, 22 percent of Americans see Christie favorably, while 48 percent see him unfavorably.
After today’s announcement Christie will go on to campaign in New Hampshire the rest of the week, making stops at a series oftown hall meetings and diner’s, as well as an appearance at the Wolfeboro 4th of July Parade on Saturday.
"I don’t do something great every day, I’m human. But every morning, I wake up with an opportunity to do something great. That’s why this job is a great job,” Christie said in his speech. “And that’s why president of the United States is an even greater job for a greater number of people.”
