New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was scheduled to visit Republican gubernatorial candidates in Minnesota and Kansas on Monday to lend his political clout as chair of the Republican Governors Association.
Christie, who is widely expected to run for president in 2016, was scheduled to spend the morning in Minneapolis attending a pair of closed-door party events with Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, the GOP candidate for Minnesota governor.
In the early afternoon, the two will tour the Global Academy Charter School in Columbia Heights, where they will speak to the press. The school, which draws many East African and Middle Eastern immigrant children from high-poverty neighborhoods, has won accolades for posting high test scores.
The campaign stop was intended to raise Johnson’s profile in advance of the November election. Polls have put him anywhere from 7 to 12 points behind Democratic-Farmer-Labor Gov. Mark Dayton, who is running for a second term in office.
Johnson, who has been critical of teachers’ unions, aims to highlight the fact that Minnesota has the highest academic achievement gap between white students and students of color in the nation. He has pledged to reject federally-backed programs, such as Common Core and No Child Left Behind, and he proposes allowing public school funding to follow each child to the school option of their parents’ choice.
Dayton has said school funding relies too heavily on local property taxes and schools need more state support to create a level playing field.
The governor has pointed to the state roll-out of all-day kindergarten and recent new investment in early childhood education as examples of his commitment to kids.
In a statement, the Minnesota DFL called Johnson and Christie “like two peas in a pod” and highlighted the pair’s opposition to automatic increases in their respective states’ minimum wage.
In January 2013, Christie vetoed a proposed $1.25 increase to New Jersey’s minimum wage and offered a smaller, more gradual pay hike.
Voters overruled him in a public referendum eight months later, raising New Jersey’s minimum to $8.25, with automatic increases tied to inflation. Johnson has also gone on record opposing Minnesota’s recent minimum wage increase, saying workers should instead aspire to higher-paying careers.
Mike McFadden, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, for his seat in office, is also expected to join Johnson and Christie Monday afternoon.
Christie has been making the rounds nationally this campaign season in an effort to boost Republican gubernatorial campaigns. In late September, he toured a factory in Hudson, Wisconsin, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is locked in what appears to be a close contest with Democratic challenger Mary Burke.
There are currently 29 GOP governors and 21 Democratic governors in office, but those numbers could change next month, when 36 gubernatorial seats will be decided. A big win for the GOP would further boost Christie’s profile entering November, the unofficial start of the 2016 presidential campaign season.
Christie was scheduled to travel to Kansas on Monday afternoon to stump for Gov. Sam Brownback, and then spend the day in New England on Tuesday to lend his support to Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage and Connecticut GOP gubernatorial nominee Tom Foley.
Christie has been a regular visitor Maine, making many appearances in support of LePage in his re-election bid.
First Lady Michelle Obama also appeared in Wisconsin on Sept. 29 to stump for Burke. The general election is Nov. 4.
Follow Frederick Melo on Twitter at @FrederickMelo.
Distributed by MCT Information Services