Exclusive: Christie Set to Announce Presidential Bid at LHS, Officials Confirm
New Jersey’s governor will use the high school to display his humble hometown roots and commitment to the state
By Andrew Peng and Kevin Xiang
This post was updated at 9:00 p.m. EST to include additional information
LIVINGSTON, N.J. — New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will formally launch his presidential campaign at Livingston High School next Tuesday, two senior school administration officials confirmed to Byline late Friday.
Multiple sources also told Byline that the school administration was contacting selected students to invite them to attend the event, including reporters at the school’s Lance newspaper, members of the student government association, and several club leaders.
Mark Stern, the school’s principal, joined by assistant principals Bronawyn O’Leary and Gregory Vacca, personally participated in contacting the students. A report from New Jersey Advance Media stated that Mr. Stern had been contacted by the Christie campaign as soon as Wednesday.
The news that the high school would be the site of Christie’s launch event was first reported by WNYC, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the governor’s plans.
Christie is expected to use the school to serve as a backdrop for his humble hometown roots, and will talk extensively about how his childhood experiences have influenced his life and his career. He will do so in the high school’s old gym at 11 a.m. EST, which was reserved by the Christie campaign earlier this week, according to two students who requested anonymity.
By announcing in his home state, Christie can also demonstrate his commitment to New Jersey’s residents as he sets his sights on the Oval Office. Christie has repeatedly said that the people of New Jersey would be the first to know about his political future.
The confirmation comes after a flurry of speculation and reports in the local and national media, all which were refuted by Christie Thursday in his monthly “Ask the Governor” radio appearance on NJ101.5.
“There’s been absolutely no final decision made by me,” he said. “There’s lots of people who speculate lots of things, and I can’t be held to account for every bit of speculation that’s in the press.”
When asked whether his campaign launch event would be held at the high school, Christie responded: “I can’t deny that because I haven’t made a decision. Once I make a decision then I’ll decide how I want to do it.”
In a statement released on Thursday, James O’Neil, interim superintendent of Livingston Public Schools, said that it was “unfortunate that the school district has been placed in an awkward position with political implications.”
O’Neil added that the school district “does not endorse political figures and any event held on school grounds is simply out of deference to the office.”
Although born in Newark, Christie was raised in Livingston and has expressed constant love for the school, where he served as class president for four years running until he graduated (Class of 1980). According to WNYC’s Matt Katz, he “played on his championship baseball team and maintains several friendships from his time there.”
He was inducted into the Livingston High School Hall of Fame in 2013 after cruising to a second term, and has been known to organize class reunions in the decades before he became governor.
“No matter where life takes me, when I say home, what I’ll always mean is Livingston High School,” Christie said at the reception, according to the Star-Ledger.
The governor will become the fourteenth candidate to enter the crowded Republican field, and will seek his party’s nomination at a time when a majority of the state’s residents have expressed dissatisfaction with his job performance. A poll released last week put Christie’s approval rating at just 30 percent, his lowest since he took office in 2010.
Christie has traveled across the country for months, holding town hall meetings most recently in New Hampshire, a key state in national primary elections. He previously served as chairman of the Republican Governors Association and has branded himself as a fiscally-conservative, no-nonsense politician.
He gained prominence and praise from residents of his home state and across the nation in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, but his popularity has since dropped after the George Washington Bridge lane closures last fall, which resulted in the arrests of two of his top aides. Christie has maintained his innocence and was never implicated in the political payback scheme.
Nicholas Zhao Rui contributed to this story from California.
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