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The first time I asked Gov. Chris Christie a question we were 2,000 miles from New Jersey. I was a year into my first newspaper job in southeast New Mexico. Christie, just eight months into his first term, was there to stump for Susana Martinez's campaign for governor. Noting the candidate's law-and-order record, Christie played up the Jersey shtick that worked so well for him. "We invented pay-to-play," Christie joked to a crowd that treated him like a celebrity. And then I asked the unoriginal question he'd gotten plenty already: You here to lay the groundwork for a presidential run?

As a candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Chris Christie promised to stop states such as Colorado from legalizing marijuana. As governor of New Jersey, Christie insists that the federal government has no business stopping his state from legalizing sports betting -- an argument that got a mostly friendly reception at the Supreme Court on Monday. The most likely explanation for Christie's situational federalism is that he does not mind if people bet on sports but cannot abide pot smoking. But there is a legal rationale for Christie's apparent inconsistency, and it says a lot about the extent to...

TRENTON -- On the eve of the election that will determine who will replace him, Republican Gov. Chris Christie wasn't lobbing any political bombs at the Democratic candidate. Instead, he took aim at his own mentor. Christie accused former Gov. Tom Kean of revisionist history when talking about his own state budget while defending Republican candidate for governor Kim Guadagno at a campaign event on Saturday. He suggested that Kean's state budgets weren't as frugal as the former governor let on.

Hollywood producer and Obama donor Harvey Weinstein said the United States is "embarrassing" because of its adherence to the Second Amendment and lack of universal healthcare.  Appearing on Piers Morgan Tonight Friday, Weinstein said "this is the only the country in the world where we don't have health care. Countries embarrass us around the world." "And this is the only country in the world where we don't have a gun law. I watched you, you know, talking about that," he said. "You know, quite frankly it's embarrassing. Obama's not embarrassing. The country is embarrassing." Morgan asked Weinstein during the show's Friday installment "if...

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has declined to make a Shermanesque statement that would flatly rule out the possibility that he would appoint himself to fill the Senate seat of Democrat Senator Bob Menendez. Sen. Menendez is currently under federal trial, facing bribery and corruption charges. Should Menendez be removed from office or resign before Christie’s term ends on January 18, 2018, Christie would have the power to appoint his replacement. In a recorded interview aired on this today’s Morning Joe, New York Times reporter Nick Confessore said to Christie, “I’m looking for a Shermanesque statement here.” View the video...

When Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey goes on trial on federal corruption charges in less than three weeks, far more than his own fate hinges on the outcome. If Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, is convicted and then expelled from the United States Senate by early January, his replacement would be picked by Gov. Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey and an ally of President Trump. That scenario — where Mr. Menendez’s interim replacement would more than likely be a Republican — would have immediate and far-reaching implications: The Republicans would be gifted a crucial extra vote just...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got in the face of a Chicago Cubs fan in Milwaukee on Sunday — all while keeping an iron grip on his bowl of nachos. Christie was walking down the aisle, snack in hand, when he was razzed by a Cubs fan, according to footage tweeted by WISN. He got into a brief stare-off with the fan, faces about a foot apart, before Christie sarcastically told him: “You’re a big shot!”

TRENTON -- Transgender students at New Jersey's public schools were given new layers of protection under a bill that Gov. Chris Christie signed into law Friday. The legislation (S3067/A4652) -- which takes effect immediately -- requires the state education commissioner to draft specific guidelines to help schools address "the needs" of transgender students and establish policies that "ensure a supportive and nondiscriminatory environment" for those students. Schools will be expressly told that they cannot force transgender students to use bathrooms or locker rooms that conflict with their gender identity. Instead, schools would be be mandated to provide "reasonable alternative arrangements...

TRENTON -- The latest poll in the race to succeed Chris Christie as New Jersey's governor shows Democratic nominee Phil Murphy with a commanding 27-point lead over Republican nominee Kim Guadagno -- though a majority of voters continue to say they don't know much about either candidate. The Monmouth University Poll, released Wednesday, found 53 percent of Garden State voters would choose Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany, while 26 percent would pick Guadagno, the state's lieutenant governor.

Fat Chris Christie Criticized For Sunbathing on New Jersey Beach he Closed to the Public

Acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick and state Attorney General Christopher Porrino will announce several initiatives to combat gun violence in New Jersey, including a two-day statewide gun buyback program in three cities this summer. A formal announcement is expected at 1 p.m. in Trenton, but the gun buyback initiative being planned would include locations in Newark, Camden and Trenton, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office. The joint federal and state announcement comes after a deadly start to the summer. The amount of money made available for buybacks was not disclosed ahead of the annoucement.

HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. — The Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey sat on a plush beige couch in the Republican mayor’s condo, surrounded by Republican county officials and politicians, and offered up her plan to stem what is perhaps the state’s most daunting challenge — its deepening property tax crisis. She adopted it, she said, from an unexpected source. “This is a page out of the Democratic playbook, it really is,” Kim Guadagno, the lieutenant governor said, noting that the plan came from a proposal in deep-blue Illinois. With Republicans controlling the White House, both chambers of Congress and having...

What happens if a state with a population roughly equal to that of Kentucky and Louisiana combined held a major election and no one noticed? That seems to be occurring in New Jersey, which is electing a new governor this year. It may be the Democrats’ biggest gubernatorial win in the state in over 40 years. A Democratic romp in a state Hillary Clinton won easily might not seem like a surprising result. But New Jersey usually features competitive governor’s races. Over the past 40 years, Democrats have won the governor’s mansion four times to Republicans’ six. New Jersey’s current...

NEWARK -- Two days after a relatively calm and cordial first debate, three Democratic hopefuls vying for their party's nomination to succeed Chris Christie as New Jersey's governor unleashed fury on front-runner Phil Murphy, whom they accused of trying to buy the nod from party bosses. Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany and ex-Goldman Sachs executive who has spent more than $15 million so far on his campaign, was assailed by rivals Jim Johnson, Raymond Lesniak, and John Wisniewski on Thursday night during the second and final Democratic primary debate before voters cast ballots June 6.

FULL TITLE: 'Everybody who flies United knows it's awful': Governor Chris Christie blasts airline for evicted passenger controversy and asks Trump administration to ban overbooking New Jersey Governor Chris Christie denounced United Airlines as 'awful' on Wednesday and demanded the Trump administration step in and prevent the aviation industry from overbooking flights following the forced removal of a bloodied passenger on Sunday. Christie was reacting to the national backlash that erupted against United after one of its passengers was filmed being violently dragged off a plane just before takeoff to make room for the airline's crew members even though he...

Two former cronies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were sentenced to prison Wednesday for the politically motivated closure of traffic lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge that has come to be known as “Bridgegate.” Former Port Authority exec Bill Baroni was sentenced to two years in ​prison​ and ex-Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly to 18 months behind bars by a federal judge in Newark.

CEDAR KNOLLS -- Gov. Chris Christie announced Thursday that New Jersey added almost 13,000 new private sector jobs in February, building on last week's announcement that 2016 marked the largest annual gain in employment in sixteen years. New Jersey's unemployment rate fell from 4.6 percent in January to 4.4 percent last month, making it the lowest it's been since October 2007. The national unemployment rate for February was 4.7 percent. "Over the past year, New Jersey's private sector employers have added 77,000 new jobs," said Christie.

TRENTON -- "Saturday Night Live" alum Joe Piscopo has decided he will not run for New Jersey governor as a Republican and instead is planning to declare he will jump into the race to succeed Gov. Chris Christie as an independent candidate, NJ Advance Media has learned. Piscopo made his decision because he did not begin the process of running early enough to run as a Republican, according to two sources close to the performer who requested anonymity because they did not want to publicly discuss an official announcement that could trigger state election laws on fundraising.

Don't knock meatloaf. It's gotten a bad rap. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his wife Mary Pat had lunch with President Donald Trump on Valentine's Day and, according to Christie, Trump made him have the White House meatloaf. "This is what it's like to be with Trump," Christie said during a guest host spot on a radio show on Thursday, according to the New York Post. "He says, 'There's the menu, you guys order whatever you want.' And then he says, 'Chris, you and I are going to have the meatloaf.'" According to Christie, Trump said, "I'm telling you,...

Chris Christie: President Trump Made Me Order the Meat Loaf at White House Dinner Diana Pearl,People Fri, Feb 17 11:06 AM PST Comments Like Reblog on Tumblr Share Tweet Email Dining at the White House is an experience — but when President Trump is in office, there’s not much choice involved in the matter. According to Chris Christie, that is.