Rice political scientist available to discuss Chris Christie’s run for the White House

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David Ruth
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Amy McCaig
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Rice political scientist available to discuss Chris Christie’s run for the White House

HOUSTON – (June 30, 2015) – In 2011, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie opted not to compete for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Four years later he is now “all in,” but the conditions have changed considerably, according to Rice University political expert Mark Jones, who is available to comment on Christie entering the race and the challenges he will face gaining the Republican nomination.

Mark Jones

“Today, Christie’s candidacy is hampered by three major factors: the Bridgegate scandal, his position far to the left of most GOP primary voters and the opinion held by almost all major GOP donors that he has no realistic chance of victory,” Jones said.

While Jones noted that it would be extremely unlikely for Christie to capture the Republican nomination, he suggested that the principal impact of a Christie candidacy, if carried through to the primary season, which begins in January, will be to adversely affect Jeb Bush, the viable candidate whose ideological and policy position is closest to Christie’s.

“Chris Christie joins a group of more than half a dozen Republican candidates – including Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Rick Santorum, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson – with little to no chance of capturing the GOP nomination,” Jones said. “However, his candidacy could draw the support of some moderate and establishment Republicans who absent Christie’s candidacy would have backed Jeb Bush.”

Jones, professor and chair of political science and fellow in political science at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is a leading expert on Texas politics and has been quoted nationally on presidential politics. He is also an expert on Latin American politics and has authored guest columns on these topics in Texas Monthly and the Texas Tribune.

Media who want to interview Jones may contact him directly at 832-466-6535.

Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7.

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Mark Jones headshot: https://news2.rice.edu/files/2014/09/mark-jones.jpg

Photo credit: Rice University

Mark Jones bio: https://politicalscience.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=103

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,888 undergraduates and 2,610 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked among some of the top schools for best quality of life by the Princeton Review and for best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” click here.