Christie Wants Primary Pushed Back

While some won’t give up hope that Chris Christie will run for president, the New Jersey governor appears more focused on the election mechanics, suggesting that the Garden State move its presidential primary from February to June in hopes of saving some money for the state and avoiding penalties from the national parties.

“My inclination would be to say, listen these rules are so kind of screwy now about how we’re going to pick delegates … that I don’t know whether it’s enough value for New Jersey to move up,” the Republican governor said Tuesday at a town hall meeting on the Jersey Shore, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Rules from the Republican and Democratic National Committees lay out a sequence for primaries that would penalize states that vote out of turn and before March 1. Under state law, New Jersey’s primary is set for Feb. 7.

Like governors and legislators in several other states, Christie would like to see his state’s primary moved to June, when other issues, including a Senate primary, will be on the ballot. “We’re going to have election in June anyway,” he said.

Christie said that moving the primary “is a conversation that the Republicans and Democrats in Trenton are going to have to have, and have to have relatively quickly,” but some Democrats have already indicated they would support the shift. Deputy speaker John Wisniewski introduced a bill in February that would move the primary to June. He estimated the shift would save the state between $8 million and $10 million every four years.

“The question is, on balance, does New Jersey want to be earlier in the process than June in order to try to have a greater effect on who the presidential nominee [is] this year?” Christie said. “My inclination is to not do it, is to not have two, but to have one. But none of that can I do by myself because that’s set by statute and the Democrats control the legislature.”

Copyright POLIT - Politico
Contact Us