Republican presidential contender and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie laid into 2024 GOP challenger Vivek Ramaswamy after the fourth and latest debate on Wednesday, hosted by NewsNation in Alabama.
In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash following the event, Christie was supportive of his confrontations with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ramaswamy throughout the debate, and while he also criticized former South Carolina governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, he did come to her defense during the event after Ramaswamy attacked her again.
After referring to himself as a “truth teller,” Christie also said he respected Haley as a “smart” and “accomplished woman.”
“I think Vivek does have a woman problem,” Christie said. “I do think he insults women’s basic intelligence. He’s done it over and over and over again. And I guess tonight, I just had had enough. I had enough of listening to his garbage, and as I said, his smart-ass Harvard mouth, because that’s what it is when he’s dictating to me. Nikki Haley.
“We have committed ourselves to public service while he’s been off stealing from seniors to make his fortune. Yeah, I’m not going to put up with him anymore,” Christie alleged, going on to label Ramaswamy a “jackass” after alleging that Haley could not distinguish between Israel and the U.S. on a map.
Meanwhile, Christie’s chances of winning his party’s nomination are slim. He’s been polling at the bottom of the list of candidates for months now, and he may not be able to put his name on the presidential primary ballot in Maine for reasons that are no doubt embarrassing to him.
According to CBS News, Christie has fallen short of the minimum 2,000 signatures needed to qualify to be on the ballot, state officials said on Friday.
According to a letter from Maine’s Director of Elections, Heidi M. Peckham, Christie’s campaign only submitted “844 names certified by municipal registrars.” Candidates were required to file their signatures for certification with municipal clerks before they were to be submitted to the Secretary of State’s office by 5 p.m. on Friday, CBS News reported.
Christie has five days to appeal the decision to the Maine Superior Court.
“The campaign collected and submitted over 6,000 signatures. This is simply a procedural issue with the way they reviewed signatures and is under appeal,” a Christie campaign spokesperson told the outlet.
CBS added: As it stands, the Republican candidates who will appear on the GOP primary ballot include former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and pastor Ryan Binkley. On the Democratic side, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who launched his campaign in late October, and President Biden will be on their party’s primary ballot.
Maine’s primary will be March 5, 2024, on a day when several states have theirs as well, known as Super Tuesday, CBS reported.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, Maine’s upcoming presidential primary election will be the first time the state has used the new semi-open primary law. The distinctive approach permits unenrolled voters—those without a party affiliation—to participate in any party’s primary.
However, individuals enrolled in a specific party, such as Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Green Independent, must disaffiliate from their current party at least 15 days before joining a new party and casting a ballot in a different primary, CBS noted.
Former Govs. Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson are the only GOP candidates still in the presidential race to be missing from the list of candidates on the Maine primary ballot. https://t.co/pkISEN8lIx pic.twitter.com/jDpYflHs7K
— The Hill (@thehill) December 2, 2023
Christie’s campaign has been built on heavily criticizing Trump, and he recently lashed out at the two GOP leaders under Trump—DeSantis and Haley—for not criticizing him enough.
Despite his miserable polling, Christie declared late last month that he intends to continue in the primary contest until the nominating convention in the summer of next year.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
