Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie said on Friday that GOP rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, “sounds like a really angry guy” and questioned whether he “cares about healing the divide” in the country.
“He sounds like a really angry guy,” Christie said at a WMUR town hall in New Hampshire. “He’s squinting his eyes all the time and pissed about something, you know. So, I’m skeptical, right. I’m skeptical that somebody who’s that angry cares about healing the divide or has the ability to do it.”
The former New Jersey governor took aim at DeSantis earlier this week as well, as the Florida governor has continued to slip in the polls despite efforts to reset his struggling campaign.
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A recent NH Journal/co-efficient poll showed Christie and DeSantis tied in second place in New Hampshire with 9 percent support, while former President Trump lead the Republican field with 43 percent.
“We feel like it’s really moving in our direction,” Christie said on Fox News on Wednesday. “Our momentum is going the right way; Governor DeSantis is going in the wrong direction.”
“So our first job is to get past Gov. DeSantis in New Hampshire,” he added. “Now, we need to pass him. And then we’re going to take on Donald Trump, one-on-one.”
Christie has largely focused his efforts on the Granite State instead of Iowa, where he is notably absent from this weekend’s state fair, which has drawn many of the other GOP candidates.