By John Celock
Ahead of his expected presidential campaign announcement Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has released a web video focusing on his blunt personality.
In the two minute video, posted on YouTube, Christie focused on being the son of an Irish father and a Sicilian mother and his mother’s focus on sharing exactly how one feels. Christie talks about his late mother and her personality and how nothing went unsaid between the two.
“My mom was the one who set the rules and set the tone, no suffering in silence,” Christie says in the video, which was filmed during one of his recent town hall meetings.
He ties his mother’s personality to his and to his campaign theme of “telling it like it is.” Christie, the second term governor of New Jersey, has made blunt talk the signature of his gubernatorial tenure. He is famous for his combative personality including at his regular town hall meetings across the Garden State, where his regular sparing partners have included teachers.
Christie is scheduled to formally kickoff his presidential campaign Tuesday during an event in Livingston High School in New Jersey, where he graduated from. Christie has been gearing up for the presidential race for several years and has been making regular stops in New Hampshire this year. Christie’s 2014 tenure as chairman of the Republican Governors Association was widely seen as a practice run for the presidential contest.
In the video, Christie says that his personality is needed for a presidential candidate.
“If you’re going to run for president of the United States and are going to ask for their vote, that is the single most trusting thing they can do as a citizen, is to give you their support,” Christie said. “You better tell exactly what you’re thinking and exactly what you’re feeling.”