New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Tuesday did not rule out a bid for the White House when asked directly about his presidential ambitions in a debate against Democratic challenger state Sen. Barbara Buono.
“Listen my mother told me a long time ago … do the job you have at the moment the best you possibly can and the future will take care of itself,” Christie said at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., as quoted by ABC News. “The fact is there have been people talking about me running for president since 2010 and they all said I would do it in 2012 and I said I wouldn’t and I didn’t. And the fact is after 2017 I’m going to be looking for another job anyway.”
“I’m going to continue to do my job the best way I possibly can and I am not going to declare tonight … that I am or I am not running for president and you know what? People don’t expect me to, they expect me to do my job,” he said.
When Buono challenged his positions on gun control and marriage equality, Christie called her “the only person obsessed with 2016 on this stage.”
“I can walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said, as quoted by ABC News. “I can do this job and also deal with my future.”
