Bridget Ann Kelly, whose Bridgegate conviction was overturned, returns to politics

One of the aides to former Gov. Chris Christie who was implicated in the Bridgegate scheme is moving back into public life.

Bridget Ann Kelly, whose 2016 federal conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, announced this week she is running for Bergen County clerk.

“After I won in May and the case was over, [I] stood back and [I] said what’s next,” she told FOX 5’s Good Day New York. “Going to rebuild another career didn’t make sense to me. I loved my job in government.”

Kelly and co-defendant Bill Baroni were found guilty in 2016 on various federal charges relating to a 2013 plot to close lanes at the George Washington Bridge, snarling traffic at the busy crossing for four days.

Aides to Christie orchestrated the scheme as revenge on the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee who refused to endorse the Republican governor for reelection.

Kelly and Baroni appealed their case, and last year the U.S. Supreme Court tossed the convictions, saying that even though the case showed “wrongdoing,” the defendants didn’t violate federal fraud laws because they didn’t profit financially from the lane closures.

“I can talk about this now freely. People have questions? I’m happy to talk about it,” Kelly said. “I want people to get to know Bridget Kelly — not the Bridget Kelly that was created by others who maligned me for many many years and spent a ton of money to do so.”

Christie was never charged in Bridgegate and maintains he had no knowledge of the plot.