Chris Christie Isn’t Campaigning for All GOP Candidates
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie talks with reporters at the National Governors Association convention Saturday, July 12, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo | Mark Humphrey)
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie — who heads the Republican Governors Association — has come under fire from a New York Republican challenging Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo there. Rob Astorino said Christie should step down from the RGA since Christie isn’t supporting Astorino’s candidacy.
GOP gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino made the comments at a news conference in Manhattan, which fell a day after Christie, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said he doesn’t invest in “landslides” or “lost causes.”
Astorino said that if the New Jersey governor “is unable to help a Republican candidate for governor, then maybe he should consider stepping down as chairman of the RGA. That’s his job.”
He added, according to the New York Daily News, “Maybe it’s inconvenient to come over the bridge to New York to help a Republican candidate for governor here. That’s his call, whether he wants to or not, but as RGA chair he has governors and candidates who have a chance to win … and it’s incumbent upon him to help all of us.”
Politico says Christie may face a backlash from conservative elites: “Christie is head of the RGA,” William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, said. “He’s supposed to support Republican gubernatorial candidates. And Astorino is an impressive one.”
