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Presidential candidate Chris Christie holds town hall in Charleston
By Live 5's Emily Johnson
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - 2024 Republican Presidential Candidate and former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie visited the Lowcountry on Saturday night.
He held a town hall at Tradesman Brewing Company in Charleston bringing together locals with questions for the candidate.
Christie started off his town hall by addressing the current conflict between Israel and Palestine and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“Everything we see going on right now is connected; what’s going on in Ukraine, what’s now going on in Israel, what we see going on in the South China Sea, all that stuff is connected,” Christie says. “It happens when America starts to pull back from leading the world.”
After addressing ongoing global conflicts, he went on to what Americans should look for in the next President of the United States.
“We have to make a decision right now about what kind of country we want to be; that’s why character is the single most important issue in this race,” Christie adds.
Shortly after opening remarks, Christie took questions from the audience.
Those questions varied from how he would handle the nation’s debt, immigration laws and gun rights, to how to keep children safer in schools.
“How are they going to be safe every day when I drive away from them?” an audience member asked.
“I think the first thing is that it shouldn’t be easier to get into a school than it is to an office building,” Christie replied.
Almost an hour after answering dozens of questions, Christie wrapped up by stressing the significance of South Carolina’s impact in the election next year.
“You are the Presidential wine tasters of America,” he says. “You are the ones who get to decide in the main who we get to pick next fall.”
WATCH THE LIVESTREAM OF THE TOWN HALL BY CLICKING HERE
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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Presidential hopeful and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will make a couple of stops in the Lowcountry this weekend.
He will be a special guest at the “Tell It Like It Is” town hall on Saturday. That event takes place at 6 p.m. at Tradesman Brewing Company, located at 1647 King St. Extension. Doors will open at 5 p.m.
On Sunday, he is scheduled to travel to Beaufort to speak at the Tabernacle Baptist Church worship service at 10 a.m. The church is located at 901 Craven St. in Beaufort. He will then make a stop at the Blackstone’s Cafe, at 205 Scott St., at noon.
Christie has, in recent days, criticized the U.S. House for failing to select a new speaker after ousting Kevin McCarthy from the role.
“Look, this isn’t hard. There are a number of good people who have already offered themselves, and this goes back to the sophistry and the selfishness of the people who got rid of Kevin McCarthy,” he told Martha MaCCallum on Fox News. “You know, it looks real easy to pick a speaker or keep a speaker until you don’t have one.”
He also criticized President Joe Biden’s stance on Iran in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Joe Biden’s wrong on Iran. The fact is that the only way that Iran’s going to respond is through us making sure that we isolate them,” he said Wednesday on Fox Business. “We have to work with the other Arab countries in the Middle East to isolate Iran. Iran’s a threat to them, too, and they know it. And an American president has to be smart about playing all the angles on this. But the goal has to be to isolate Iran.”
In a September CBS News poll of likely GOP Caucus voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, Christie ranked in last place with just 1% in Iowa in a tie with fellow Republican Asa Hutchinson. He came in fifth, tied with Vivek Ramaswamy at 8%, in New Hampshire.
Donald Trump leads both Iowa and New Hampshire polling with 51% and 50% respectively.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ranked in second place in both states, at 21% in Iowa and 13% in New Hampshire.
RELATED: DeSantis to visit Mount Pleasant Friday
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will visit Mount Pleasant and Myrtle Beach Friday fresh off a stop at Winthrop University
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Fresh off a visit at Winthrop University up in Rock Hill, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will make a campaign stop Friday in the Lowcountry.
DeSantis’s “Never Back Down” bus tour will stop in Mount Pleasant where he will attend a “meet-and-greet” event at 9 a.m. at Saltwater Cowboys.
He will also held a veteran’s town hall ahead of a rally in Murrells Inlet Friday afternoon.
He was then scheduled to speak in Myrtle Beach at a campaign event at 2:30 p.m. at the venue Ground Zero.
Prior to Desantis’s visit to Winthrop, some protested his appearance:
“Gov. DeSantis has made alarming remarks about slavery, the elimination of African American history, critical race theory, and glamorizing the institution of slavery itself,” South Carolina Rep. John Richard King (D-York County) said. “These statements are not only historically inaccurate but also perpetrate a dangerous narrative that undermines the progress we have made as a nation in addressing our troubled past and working towards a more inclusive and equitable future.”
King went on to say he continues to urge Winthrop to denounce DeSantis’s past remarks to foster an inclusive environment.
DeSantis, meanwhile, introduced a five-point plan Thursday before his appearance in Anderson to support American veterans, saying the ruling class has “left behind the patriots who put their life on the line for America.”
“We will restore our military and take care of our heroes,” he said. “I know what it means to wear the cloth (of) our country, and I will not let America’s veterans down.”
His plan includes modernizing the Veterans Administration’s systems and infrastructure, fighting veteran suicide, substance abuse and homelessness; focusing on care, ending delays and denials and expanding access to benefits; prioritizing lethality, readiness and cohesion to reverse what he calls President Joe Biden’s “recruitment crisis;” and restoring accountability to the VA.
DeSantis, who served in the Navy, is the only veteran in the race, his campaign says, and would be the first president who served in a war to be elected since 1988.
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