Christie Leaves Presidential Race 'Without an Ounce of Regret'

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie threw in the towel on the 2016 presidential race today, saying he suspends his campaign “without an ounce of regret.”

Christie walked away from the Iowa caucuses with no delegates and 1.8 percent of the vote. He spent lots of time in New Hampshire and was pinning his presidential hopes on a strong showing in the Granite State.

That didn’t happen. Christie finished in sixth place Tuesday as John Kasich emerged as the top governor in the field.

With no delegates and 7.4 percent of the vote, Christie didn’t travel on to Nevada or South Carolina but went home.

“I ran for president to say that the government needs to once again work for the people, not the people work for the government. And while running for president I tried to reinforce what I have always believed – that speaking your mind matters, that experience matters, that competence matters and that it will always matter in leading our nation,” he said in a message posted on his Facebook page moments ago.

“That message was heard by and stood for by a lot of people, but just not enough and that’s ok,” Christie continued. “I have both won elections that I was supposed to lose and I’ve lost elections I was supposed to win and what that means is you never know what will happen. That is both the magic and the mystery of politics – you never quite know when which is going to happen, even when you think you do.”

“And so today, I leave the race without an ounce of regret. I’m so proud of the campaign we ran, the people that ran it with me and all those who gave us their support and confidence along the way. Mary Pat and I thank you for the extraordinary display of loyalty, friendship, understanding and love.”

Christie’s endorsements included Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Maine Gov. Paul LePage, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker.

He also got the backing of a handful of members of Congress.

Christie hinted at his potential exit last night, telling supporters there was “no reason to go and sit in South Carolina in a hotel room” to study the results in New Hampshire and decide how to move forward accordingly.

“We’ll go home. We haven’t been home for two weeks,” he said. “So we can actually get a change of clothes, which would be a nice thing.”