New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) wife, Mary Pat, admitted that enthusiasm for a Christie 2016 presidential campaign has waned among donors.
In an interview that aired Wednesday morning, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Mary Pat Christie whether she felt it was tough to lose the support of people who once agitated for the New Jersey governor to launch a presidential campaign.
“It certainly is disappointing when you had throngs of people encouraging you to do this. Maybe the enthusiasm isn’t as crazy as it was,” Christie responded.
“What I will tell you — because I do make a lot of phone calls — is that everyone always says that ‘I know he’d be a great president,'” she added. “When you have those conversations it kind of is reassuring. You know that deep down they know he can do the job and certainly believe in his ability.”
Although six other Republican heavyweights have already launched their presidential campaigns, Chris Christie hasn’t announced whether he plans to join them.
But Mary Pat Christie did leave her job as a managing director of Wall Street investment firm Angelo Gordon & Co. last month in order to “spend more time with her family and young children.” She wouldn’t say whether she would leave the position if her husband decided to run prior to making that move; but the governor indicated in the CNN interview that a potential campaign was at least part of his wife’s motivation.
“Our job — and I think part of Mary Pat’s decision about leaving her full-time job as we consider this — is to give a sense of reassurance to [our] kids to let them know that we’re going to be there,” he said.
