Christie is seeking election in a blue state, and gay marriage will complicate things. Christie in bind on gay marriage

A New Jersey judge’s ruling legalizing gay marriage in the state presents Chris Christie with a mixed political bag ahead of Election Day.

Christie is trying to win reelection in a blue state by a wide margin, the better to springboard into a 2016 presidential campaign. For Democrats, being pro-gay marriage has become the starting point for any candidate hoping to seek the party’s nomination in four years (witness Hillary Clinton’s move to publicly back same-sex marriage soon after leaving the State Department).


Yet Christie’s administration has said in court papers that the issue was not one for the state. The argument has been over whether people who could enter into civil unions but not marriages would be denied federal benefits. Since state benefits weren’t affected, the Christie administration had argued this was not a state issue.

( PHOTOS: Chris Christie’s career)

It was an effective punt for Christie, who had vetoed a gay marriage bill that helped spur the lawsuit. And this allows him to slam the judge as meddling with state rights, without having to address the broader issue at a time when he needs Democrats and independent voters to support him.

In a statement about an hour after the ruling, Christie’s press secretary said “Governor Christie has always maintained that he would abide by the will of the voters on the issue of marriage equality and called for it to be on the ballot this Election Day. Since the legislature refused to allow the people to decide expeditiously, we will let the Supreme Court make this constitutional determination.”

As more voters tune in to the New Jersey gubernatorial race, the suit affords the opportunity for reporters, and activists, to press Christie on his anti-gay marriage stand.

( PHOTOS: Gay couples marry in California)

And Christie will have to walk a fine line between defending his position and offending supporters of same-sex marriage, while not further alienating social conservatives whose support he will need if he runs a presidential race. Gay marriage is an issue on which polling has shifted nationally, and over which many GOP elites have switched stands, but much of the base remains opposed to it.

Christie has been presenting himself as a different kind of Republican. His allies see a clear comparison to the George W. Bush “compassionate conservative” campaign of 2000, which was waged after his successful gubernatorial race two years earlier, at a time when congressional GOP rhetoric had pulled sharply to the right.

Still, Christie does not live in a red state, like Bush did, meaning his challenges are very different.