Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has finally ended his presidential campaign.
“My goal has never been to be just a voice against the hate and division and the selfishness of what our party has become under Donald Trump,” Christie said. “I've always said that if there came a point in time in this race where I couldn't see a path to accomplishing that goal, that I would get out. And it's clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I'm suspending my campaign tonight for president of the United States.”
From the Associated Press:
It wasn’t clear whether Christie would be immediately endorsing one of his rivals, but he was overheard criticizing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on a livestream set up by his campaign ahead of the event. “She’s going to get smoked,” he said. “She’s not up to this.” He said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called him, petrified he would endorse Haley, but the hot mic was cut before Christie finished speaking.
The dropout comes as a surprise, given that Christie had staked the success of his campaign on New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, which is less than two weeks away. He had insisted as recently as Tuesday night that he had no plans to leave the race, continuing to cast himself as the only candidate willing to directly take on the former president.
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Christie has long claimed he was in it to win it, but it has long been clear his campaign was headed nowhere, and he seemed to be motivated entirely by anti-Trumpism.
But Christie faced a stark reality: While recent polls showed him reaching the double digits in New Hampshire, Haley shows signs of momentum. A CNN/UNH poll conducted in the state this week found Trump’s lead down to the single digits, with 4 in 10 likely Republican primary voters choosing Trump and about one-third now choosing Haley.
Allies of Haley, including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and other anti-Trump Republicans, had been urging Christie to exit, hoping a large portion of his supporters would flock to Haley, giving her a chance to turn the race into a two-candidate contest with Trump, the overwhelming favorite for the nomination.
The New Hampshire poll — which showed Christie at 12% — found about two-thirds of his supporters would select Haley as their second choice.
Christie had run as the race’s fiercest critic of the former president-turned-GOP front-runner. He warned voters against nominating a candidate who has been criminally indicted four times and could very well be a convicted felon by the November general election. And he argued Trump will lose in a rematch with President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee.
It has long been clear that Christie had no path to victory. It appears that he believes that by dropping out he can boost another Trump alternative, though it appears he has no intention of endorsing anyone. On Tuesday, he specifically rejected the idea of dropping out and supporting Nikki Haley.
“What will I look like? What will all the people who supported her at my behest look like? You know, I made that mistake once, eight years ago. I made an endorsement decision based on politics eight years ago when I supported Trump. I’m not going to make the same mistake again. Can’t do it.”
Whatever. No one cares what Chris Christie thinks.
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