Chris Christie Wants Your Vote In Alabama

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Chris Christie is running for Attorney General in Alabama. If that sounds surprising to anyone, it will sound significantly less shocking when they realize this Chris Christie is not the former governor of New Jersey, but a former partner in Birmingham's largest law firm and a legal veteran in the state of Alabama. Also, the Alabama Chris Christie is a Democrat.

"I like to say I am the original Chris Christie," Christie said. "I was born three years before the other Chris Christie." Christie kicked off his campaign Thursday night to a crowd of supporters at B&A Warehouse, although he had made it known in January he was planning to run.

Christie, who has been with Birmingham's Bradley Arant law firm for 30 years, said his decision to run for attorney general came mostly from the corruption he has seen in Montgomery in recent years. Republican Steve Marshall is the current AG, and he was appointed to the position by former governor Robert Bentley before Bentley resigned. But it was not as simple as that.

Bentley, who had been accused of having an affair with one of his staff members and using state money and resources to continue that affair, appointed then-AG Luther Strange to take over as US Senator after Jeff Sessions was named US Attorney General By President Donald Trump. Strange simultaneously suspended the investigation into Bentley, and many voters felt that Strange dropped the investigation in exchange for the Senate seat. This has been noted as one reason Strange lost in the Republican primary for that seat to Roy Moore.

Marshall was then appointed to take over for Strange, and did pursue the investigation into Bentley's case, and Bentley resigned after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges. The Bentley scandal was the last in a series of Alabama political scandals that involved the heads of all three of the state's government branches. Speaker of the Hosue Mike Hubbard was indicted for fraud and resigned and Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended after refusing to allow Alabama judges to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Moore resigned during his suspension.

"If our football team were last, we’d fire the coach, right?" Christie said at Thursday night's campaign event. "We’d fire the assistant coaches and we would get new leadership. We need new leadership on the state level. That’s what we need in Alabama.”

Christie said he wants this position as well because of his passion for what the AG must do for the state. "I love the law. I am passionate about the law, and the state deserves an attorney general that brings that passion to the office," Christie said.

Christie is one of a group of Democratic candidates who have been fueled by the momentum started when Senator Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore in the special election for Alabama's Senate seat in December. Republicans have held a majority of Alabama's U.S. House seats and after the 2010 elections, the Alabama State Legislature came under Republican control for the first time in the state's history.

Christie will face Joseph Siegelman in the Democratic primary June 5. Marshall is seeking election to the AG position in the Republican primary against Chess Bedsole, Troy King and Alice Martin.

Image courtesy of Chris Christie