L.E.MORMILE / Shutterstock.com

L.E.MORMILE / Shutterstock.com

Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has recorded a phone message being received by 10,000 D.C. Republicans urging them to vote for Patrick Mara in next Tuesday’s D.C. Council At-Large Special Election. Mara is the sole Republican in the race, competing with four Democrats (Anita Bonds, Elissa Silverman, Matthew Frumin, Paul Zukerberg) and one Statehood Green (Perry Redd).

“As a reformer myself, I respect and applaud Patrick Mara’s focus on fiscal responsibility, improving education, and ethics reform,” Christie says in the message. “Our country needs to elect accountable, responsible leaders like Patrick Mara at all levels of local government.” The call was recorded at the behest of the D.C. Republican Party.

Mara has received support from other national Republicans, including former Virginia Rep. Tom Davis and Missouri Rep. JoAnne Emerson. (Newt Gingrich tweeted on his behalf, too.) A win by him would fit into the Republican Party’s attempt to rebrand itself and attract supporters in urban areas and among minority voters. Still, local Republicans—Mara included—have differed with the national party on a number of issues, including same-sex marriage and D.C. voting rights. Mara supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.

Part of Mara’s path to victory involves getting as many of the city’s 30,000 registered Republicans to vote for him. He has also polled well among independents and some Democrats; he has been endorsed by the Post and the Current.

A group supporting Mara recently placed phone calls urging residents to vote against Silverman, saying that she would support higher taxes. “The same special interests that have already bundled thousands of dollars into Patrick Mara’s campaign have formed an outside group to attack me because they share his Republican view that taxes on the rich must be kept low, no matter what harm it might cause to the critical government services that benefit all of us,” said Silverman today.

Filed Under: april 23, chris christie, d.c. council, Patrick Mara, robocall, special election,