Chris Christie has had his differences with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, but he says he would support Paul if the libertarian-leaning senator won the Republican presidential nomination.
Christie made the statement during a discussion with Megyn Kelly on Fox News’ “The Kelly File” Monday night.
Kelly asked Christie to name the three candidates he thought were the best potential 2016 Republican contenders, to which the New Jersey governor quickly spat off former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin House Rep. Paul Ryan as “really good” candidates for president.
“Rand Paul?” Kelly interjected.
After taking a moment to consider the question with an “um,” Christie said he thought Paul “would be a credible candidate for president,” before pivoting to say he thought Florida Sen. Marco Rubio would also “be a good candidate for president.”
Christie didn’t elaborate on his phraseology, but one was left with the impression that in the hierarchy of Christie compliments, “good candidate” trumps “credible candidate.”
But Kelly pressed the Paul point, asking Christie whether he would campaign for Paul if the Kentucky senator won the GOP nomination given their past unpleasantness.
“I intend to campaign for whoever the Republican nominee is because I’m a Republican,” Christie said. “Whatever differences I may have with any one of those people that I just named myself, because there are differences between me and those folks, it would be minor compared to the differences I would have with whoever the Democratic nominee is.”
As for whether Christie plans to mount a presidential campaign himself, the usually loquacious governor didn’t provide any great insight.
“We’ll see,” he told Kelly. “I think I’m older and more experienced and it is certainly something that I have said to everybody that I will consider.”