Trump, Christie centre stage in race they’re not part of

New Jersey and Virginia’s elections come as national Democrats hope to deliver a blow to Trump ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, when the U.S. House and a third of the Senate will be on the ballot. The contest also gives Republicans an opportunity to shape their message during the Trump era.

Democrats are favoured in New Jersey’s general election, in part because of an 800,000-voter registration advantage and because of political headwinds stemming from Christie’s and Trump’s unpopularity. A May 3 Quinnipiac University Poll showed Murphy far ahead of Guadagno in a two-way general election race, but roughly half of the 1,209 New Jersey voters surveyed were undecided.

“We will stand up to this president with a steel backbone,” Murphy said. “We are better than Donald Trump, and we are better than Chris Christie.”

In Virginia, most of the attention has focused on the close Democratic primary between Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam and former Congressman Tom Perriello. Northam is a more traditional candidate, who stresses his pragmatic approach. Perriello is running a more liberal campaign, promising to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for social programs to help the poor and middle class. He’s received endorsements from U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and large donations from billionaire super donors George Soros and Donald Sussman.

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie is favoured to win the GOP primary over Trump’s former state campaign chairman.

In New Jersey, Guadagno has to contend with Christie’s unpopularity going back to the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal and his failed presidential run. She has already begun contrasting herself with the twice-elected, term-limited incumbent. Trump lost in New Jersey in 2016 and has a low approval rating with most New Jersey voters.

“I’m running for governor based on my values, based on my record, based on my principles,” Guadagno said. “My principles are Main Street principles.”

Christie on Wednesday at an event in Livingston, New Jersey, downplayed the role he might play in the contest, saying voters look forward, not backward in campaigns.

“I’m old news,” he said. “I’ve had my eight years. I’m finishing up. I don’t think people much care one way or the other.”

He stayed neutral during the campaign but said Tuesday that he voted for Guadagno. It’s unclear whether his assistance would help or hurt her campaign, since about three-quarters of voters disapprove of his job performance.

“Kim, we need a leader who will fight back against Goldman Sachs Democrats and I’m confident you are the person to do that,” Christie said in a statement.

The race to take the New Jersey governor’s office back from a Republican comes as Democrats nationally weigh whether distancing themselves from Wall Street will help them counter Trump and his populist Republican allies.

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Contact Catalini at https://www.twitter.com/mikecatalini

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Associated Press writer Alan Suderman contributed to this report.

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For more on the New Jersey’s governor’s race, go to https://apnews.com/tag/NewJerseyGovernor’sRace

Michael Catalini, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Trump, Christie centre stage in race they’re not part of

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