Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, former federal prosecutor, and political commentator who served as the 55th Governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. During his governorship, he chaired the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission in 2017. Christie became an ABC News contributor in 2018 after leaving office.
Christie was born in Newark and raised in Livingston. He volunteered for Thomas Kean's gubernatorial campaign at age 15. After graduating in 1984 from the University of Delaware, he earned a J.D. at Seton Hall. He practiced law from 1987 to 2002. He was elected county freeholder (legislator) for Morris County, serving from 1995 to 1998. By 2002, he had campaigned for Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush; the latter appointed him U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, a position he held from 2002 to 2008.
Christie won the 2009 Republican primary for Governor of New Jersey, defeating the incumbent Jon Corzine in the general election. During his first term, he was credited with cutting spending, capping property tax growth, and was praised for his response to and recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy, and was re-elected by a wide margin in 2013.[1] Christie is a moderate Republican relative to the national GOP.[2][3] After the start of his second term as governor, Christie's standing was damaged by the Fort Lee lane closure scandal.[4][5][6][7][8] Since then, he has ranked among the least popular governors in the United States; for example, a September 2016 poll found that he was the third least popular governor in the country, with an approval rating of 29%.[9] By June 2017, he was found to have an approval rating of 15%, the lowest recorded for any New Jersey governor.[10][11] As of July 2017, his disapproval rating of 69% was the highest of all governors in the nation.[12]
Christie chaired the Republican Governors Association for the 2014 election cycle.[13] On June 30, 2015, he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election. He suspended his candidacy on February 10, 2016,[14][15][16][17][18][19] and soon after endorsed Donald Trump, who named him head of his transition planning team.[20] Christie was strongly considered to be Trump's running mate but was not chosen. Soon after the election, Christie was replaced on the transition team by Mike Pence, as were three of Christie's associates.[21][22][23] He chaired the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission in 2017 after being appointed by Trump.[24][25] He has been offered numerous positions in Donald Trump's cabinet, but only considered being the Attorney General.
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