New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie acknowledged that he has not given much thought to whether Washington, D.C., should become America’s 51st state, but added that he instinctually opposes it.
“I’m not someone that’s given this a lot of thought, but I’ll give you my gut reaction,” Christie said in New Hampshire on Monday. “My gut reaction is I don’t see how adding another member of Congress will help.”
Christie was responding to a questioner who identified himself as a D.C. resident, and the governor insisted that he understood the questioner’s philosophical point. Christie encouraged the crowd to ask him about the D.C.-statehood issue when he returns to the Granite State next week after he has given it more thought.
But Christie’s instinctual response to oppose D.C. statehood on the basis of it requiring more members be added to Congress mirrored the fundamental mistrust of the federal government he shared with the “Live Free or Die” state’s audience.
When discussing Social Security benefits and entitlement reform, the governor said he told his “friend Mark Zuckerberg” that “you’re getting zero, brother.” He encouraged the audience to think that more entitlement spending would be inappropriate.
“The government that lied to you and stole [from] you already — you think the solution is to give them more money?” Christie asked. “Let’s not trust the government to give them more money please everybody.”
The governor’s recent comments stand in stark contrast to his actions in New Jersey, where he expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. His adamant opposition to entitlement spending on the stump suggests he has changed his priorities as he looks to maintain his presidential campaign. Christie, who ranks ninth in the Washington Examiner‘s GOP presidential power rankings, also finishes ninth in RealClearPolitics average of national polls.
