Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose attempt at running for the GOP nomination was marked mainly by his vociferous opposition to former President Donald Trump, has decided to drop out of the 2024 race just days before the Iowa primary election. Christie was polling significantly below both the leader, former President Donald Trump, and the second tier of contenders, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis.
Former Governor Christie made his announcement when speaking to the crowd at a campaign event in Windham, New Hampshire. During that event, former Governor Christie said that he is withdrawing from the race because he sees no possible path to victory in the GOP primary process for his campaign, which he admitted had been primarily directed against former President Donald Trump.
Speaking on the matter, he began by saying that his goal throughout the early stages of the primary had been to be a voice against Donald Trump and what he thinks Trump stands for, namely division and selfishness. He said, “My goal has never been to be just a voice against the hate and the division and the selfishness of what our party has become onto Donald Trump.”
Continuing, he added that his secondary goal, or at least the one that came to mind second for him, was to try to beat current President Joe Biden and revive America with wise leadership. He said, “It’s also been to win the nomination and defeat Joe Biden and restore our party in our country to a new place of hope and optimism in this country.”
Then he added that he has pledged to leave the race if, at any time during it, he thought that a victory for his campaign would be impossible. In his words: “I’ve always said that 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.”
He evidently reached that conclusion, as he told the crowd that he does not think that there is a viable path to the GOP nomination for him, so he is dropping out of the race. He said, “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.”
He also admitted that some people would be disappointed by his dropping out of the race, a problem likely exacerbated by his not even trying for the Iowa vote, but dropping out before it. He said, “I know and I can see it from some of the faces here that I’m disappointing some people by doing this.” Watch Gov. Christie announce his dropping out of the race here:
Christie dropping out is widely expected to primarily benefit former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, whose tone and general worldview was most similar to Christie’s, particularly when it comes to the problems they have with Trump. While Haley is still far behind Trump, it could help her establish a more general lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for second place.
Trump, posting on Truth Social about the news, said, “I hear Chris Christie is dropping out of the race today — I might even get to like him again! Anyway, he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement: ‘She’s gonna get smoked…You and I both know it, she’s not up to this.’”
Featured image credit: By Luke Harold – Politicon 2018, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89093579
"*" indicates required fields