Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may not be able to put his name on the 2024 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.
But Christie has also had a very difficult time resonating with Republican voters. And in October, he got an endorsement of sorts from someone who is not at all well-liked by GOP voters – “The View” co-host Joy Behar.
Behar said something during a podcast last month in an interview with the show’s executive producer, Brian Teta, for an episode of “The View: Behind the Table” as they discussed the premier of the 27th season of the program, as well as fellow co-host Whoopi Goldberg contracting COVID again when the subject turned to the approaching election cycle.
“The election is heating up now. We’re into it in a way that we haven’t been in the last two seasons. This season, who do you want to talk to? Who are you excited about having in there?” Teta asked, according to Mediaite.
“I want to talk to all those Republicans who were in that debate, and I have questions for them,” Behar said. “I want to say to Chris Christie, ‘Sir, you have been a champion to the left right now because you have told the truth about Donald Trump.’
“So when they asked you, would you vote for him? Why were you hesitant to raise your hand? Why don’t you just raise your damn hand and say, I’m going to vote for him if that’s what you believe? That won’t please me, but that’s the truth. Then do it,” she continued.
She went on to say that all the other candidates, save for former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison, who has since dropped out of the race, raised their hands to say they would support Trump if he became the nominee.
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