TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will take a short break from campaigning for president to give his annual State of the State address Tuesday, highlighting what he says are successes while his opponents for the Republican nomination ramp up attacks against his record.
The speech comes at a time when his public support at home is at an all-time low, and as he gains ground in New Hampshire. He won key endorsements in the state that holds the nation’s first primary on Feb. 9 and is rising in the polls. Christie spent all or part of 261 days in 2015 out of New Jersey, including frequent visits to New Hampshire and dozens of town-hall meetings with voters there.
Rival camps, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, have ramped up the attacks against Christie.
A new ad from a super PAC funded by Rubio allies says New Jersey residents want to leave the state. It then ticks through the state’s high taxes and low job growth and turns to a scandal where top aides to Christie were charged with shutting down the nation’s busiest bridge as retribution for a mayor who didn’t support his re-election.
The mailing from a super PAC helping Kasich tells voters that Christie talks “tough” but has a “weak record” as an executive.
Christie dismissed his competitors in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday, describing the ads and stepped-up rhetoric as “just another day at the ranch for me.”
Traditionally, the State of the State is an opportunity for governors to review key accomplishments and set a big-picture tone for the year ahead. But for Christie, it also presents a chance to reintroduce himself to a national audience and cast his record in a way to help his campaign, experts say.
Christie’s office said the governor plans to propose new initiatives on education, health care and drug treatment — which has been a focus of his time in office and the subject of an online video that went viral during his campaign. A spokesman for the governor declined to be more specific.
Two issues not likely to come up in Tuesday’s speech are New Jersey’s broke fund for road and bridge work and its crisis over how to pay for public pensions. Perhaps they’ll arise during a budget address later this year, when governors tend to offer more specific plans.
Even so, Christie’s New Jersey Democratic rivals say his time spent out of the state shows how little attention he’s paying to the biggest issues at home. Christie counters that he uses technology to keep in touch with government officials and Cabinet members.
“The reality is the state is in a holding pattern,” said Montclair State University political science professor Brigid Harrison. “Nothing is going to happen until the GOP nomination is decided. His attention is divided.”
Rider University assistant political science professor Ben Dworkin said Christie’s message in the speech will be new for many state residents because he’s been out of the state so much. He says the message might take time to sink in but the governor won’t likely be around to push his own agenda.
“He won’t be here to force public officials, the media and the public to focus on what he wants to focus on,” Dworkin said.
