NEPTUNE – Famously engaged in redistricting efforts at the Heldrich Hotel earlier this year, Gov. Chris Christie today said don’t rule out another tinted glass roll-up should his team require the presence of a ginned up gubernatorial political animal.
“If I feel I need to be there, I will,” Christie said on the day the Congressional Redistricting Commission met for the first time.
“My feeling (during legislative redistricting) was my advice was being sought,” he added. “I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to be behind the curtain. I went down there and gave it to them. I have great confidence in the folks we appointed. I’ll leave it up to them. But if they say, ‘governor, we could use your advice down here,’ I’ll come. As I said, I’m the leader of my party if they want my advice, I’ll give it to them.”
It went without acknowledgement by most of the media today but today marked the official beginning of the campaign season, a day maybe symbolically mired in a murky rain.
PolitickerNJ.com asked the governor if he recalibrated his political strategy to party building instead of winning a legislative majority once the GOP lost the map last spring.
“I’ve always said winning back a Republican majority was going to be a process,” Christie said. “I’m going to work hard to make sure we win it back. But look, Democrats have been in control for ten years.
“If we don’t win a majority, my goal at a minimum is to make gains. I’ll be happy with gains. I will work hard to make sure we do, but there are 700,000 more Democrats than Republicans in New Jersey. That’s significant. Let’s not forget that.”
