Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is set to teach a course at Yale University this fall on running for political office. The course, titled "How to Run a Political Campaign," will be offered at Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs and is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. The 61-year-old former governor will draw from his own experiences in politics, having served as the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008 and as governor from 2010 to 2018. He also ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and 2024.
The course will cover various aspects of running for office, including communications, fundraising, and strategic leadership goals. It will also delve into how technology-dependent political campaigns have become in recent years. In the course description, Christie emphasizes the importance of understanding one's goals and leadership style when running for office. He states, "If I do win, what do I want to accomplish and what kind of leader do I want to be?" according to the New York Post.
This marks Christie's first foray into academia, having not previously served as a teacher or professor. Despite his unsuccessful presidential bids, Christie remains one of the most vocal critics within the GOP, particularly of former President Donald Trump, whom he initially endorsed in 2016 but later broke with over claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.