Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday suspended his campaign for president.
“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,” Christie said at a town hall event in Windham, New Hampshire.
Christie, a long-shot for the nomination in a race dominated by former President Donald Trump, in recent weeks had faced increased calls from fellow Republicans and from some voters to end his bid to give rival Nikki Haley a boost as she aims to close the gap with Trump.
“I know, and I can see from some of the faces here that I’m disappointing some people by doing this. People who believe in our message and believe in what we’ve been doing,” Christie continued.
CHRISTIE RAMPS UP ATTACKS ON HALEY AS SHE CLOSES THE GAP WITH TRUMP
Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie announces he is dropping out of the race during a town hall campaign event Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Windham, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
And the former governor, one of the most vocal Trump critics in the GOP, emphasized “I also know though, this is the right thing for me to do. Because I want to promise you this – I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be President of the United States again. And that’s more important than my own personal ambitions.”
That comment brought applause from the crowd listening.
Sources indicated that Christie would not be announcing an endorsement for anyone in the 2024 presidential race at this time. One of the sources speculated that Christie would wait until after the results of next Monday’s Iowa caucuses — the first contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar — before making any potential endorsement announcement.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks with voters at a town hall in Hollis, New Hampshire on Jan. 4, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, has soared in recent months, becoming the main rival to the former president, who’s making his third straight White House run.
Christie told reporters last week that “I’ve also said I also know when I’m not doing well, and I dropped out after the New Hampshire primary eight years ago because I didn’t do as well as I thought I would. I have no interest in doing this if it doesn’t lead to success. So that’s the bottom line.”
IS TRUMP UP BY NEARLY 20 POINTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE OR IS HALEY HOT ON HIS HEELS?
The two most recent public opinion polls among likely voters in New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary, which were released on Tuesday, both indicated Christie at 12% support, in third place far behind Trump and Haley.
Considered one of the best communicators in the GOP, Christie was once a strong Trump ally but became one of the former president’s most vocal GOP critics.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, headlines a town hall in Londonderry, New Hampshire on Dec. 13, 2023. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Christie, who was first elected governor of deep-blue New Jersey in 2009 and overwhelmingly re-elected in 2013, first ran for president in the 2016 cycle.
He placed all his chips in New Hampshire, but his 2016 campaign crashed and burned after a disappointing and distant sixth-place finish in the state. He was far behind Trump, who crushed the competition in the primary, boosting him towards the nomination and eventually the White House.
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Christie became the first among the other GOP 2016 contenders to endorse Trump, and for years was a top outside adviser to the then-president and chaired Trump’s high-profile commission on opioids. However, the two had a falling out after Trump’s unsuccessful attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Biden.
Then-President-elect Donald Trump meets with then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at the clubhouse of Trump National Golf Club, on November 20, 2016 in Bedminster, New Jersey. (DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)
Christie publicly mulled a 2024 presidential run for over a year and a half before formally announcing his candidacy at an event in New Hampshire last June. Similar to his 2016 White House run, Christie once again placed most of his chips in the Granite State, where independent voters and moderates play an influential role in the state’s storied presidential primary.
The former governor, known for the kind of in-your-face politics that Trump has also mastered, criticized his rivals for not being more aggressive in taking on Trump. And he argued that he was the only contender with the chops to potentially take down Trump on the debate stage. But the former president skipped out on the debates, depriving Christie of any face-to-face confrontation with Trump.
Christie becomes the latest Republican to drop out of the increasingly slimmed down field of GOP presidential contenders.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum ended his bid early last month. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina dropped out in November. Former Vice President Mike Pence suspended his presidential campaign on Oct. 28, during his address to the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Four lesser known candidates who all failed to qualify for the GOP presidential debates had already suspended their campaigns. There are former CIA spy and former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami, Florida, business leader and quality control expert Perry Johnson, and 2021 California gubernatorial recall election candidate and former conservative talk radio host Larry Elder.
Another long-shot for the nomination, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, remains in the race.