Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who advised Donald Trump’s 2016 White House campaign only to become a vocal critic of the former US president in recent months, will launch a bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination next week, according to news reports. citing sources familiar with the plan.
Christie, 60, enters the race as a decided underdog, six years after his 2016 presidential campaign failed to gain traction amid a crowded field that included Trump. Just one percent of Republicans said he would be their preferred candidate in 2024 in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted May 9-15.
A former federal prosecutor, Christie has emerged as the only potential candidate willing to aggressively take on Trump, the current front-runner for the nomination. He was a longtime friend and adviser to Trump, but broke with the former president over his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election. Since then, Christie has become a leading critic of trump
Christie dropped out of the 2016 presidential race a day after finishing sixth in the New Hampshire primary.
After weeks of speculation about his intentions, Christie will officially launch his campaign at a town hall at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire on Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, confirming earlier reports by Axios .
Christie has urged his party to move on from Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 election was rigged, including in his book Republican Rescue. That stance could theoretically win him some support from moderate Republicans eager to turn the page, though it will alienate Trump’s still-powerful base.
In March, Christie told Axios that he would not vote for Trump in 2024 even if the former president were the Republican nominee. He has also argued in public appearances that only he has the ability and willingness to go toe-to-toe with the combative Trump.
“As we all know here in New Jersey, the governor is a proven leader who fearlessly tells it like it is,” wrote Bill Palatucci, a longtime Christie adviser who will chair a political action committee backing his candidacy, in a message to New Jersey. Members of the Republican State Committee on Tuesday.
Christie has played the attack dog role before. In a memorable debate appearance shortly before his 2016 campaign ended, Christie mocked U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio for memorizing his lines, a performance widely seen as irreparably damaging to Rubio’s campaign.
Trump, who announced his campaign last year, leads Republicans in public opinion polls.
In addition to Trump, other Republican presidential candidates are Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, US Senator Tim Scott, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur and “anti-awakening” activist Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Vice President Mike Pence and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu are among those weighing nominations.
The nominee would face Democratic President Joe Biden, whose re-election campaign faces no notable intra-party opposition.
The brash and charismatic Christie, a two-term governor of Democratic-leaning New Jersey, was once seen as a rising Republican star who had rare cross-party appeal.
But his second term was marred by New Jersey’s unique “Bridgegate” scandal, in which two of his aides were accused of deliberately closing lanes on the heavily traveled George Washington Bridge to punish a local mayor who refused to support. Christie’s re-election campaign.
Meanwhile, Christie’s relationship with Trump and his family has taken a tortuous path. As U.S. attorney for New Jersey, he prosecuted Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, for tax evasion and other crimes.
He and Trump traded many barbs during the early stages of the 2016 campaign. But within weeks of dropping out of the race, Christie endorsed Trump over other rivals, giving his candidacy a boost at one point. critical
While serving as Trump’s campaign adviser, Christie became a political liability late in the race when witnesses testified during the criminal trial of his aides that he knew about the bridge lane closures. Christie has denied knowing about the plot until afterwards.
Yet Christie was ignored, first as vice president and then as attorney general. Three days after Trump’s surprise victory, Christie was fired as the head of Trump’s White House transition team.
Since the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, Christie has hit Trump on numerous occasions. He blamed the former president for Republicans’ disappointing showing in the 2022 midterm elections and called Trump’s conduct “unacceptable” after a federal jury found Trump responsible for sexually abusing writer E Jean Carroll in the nineties
Christie was also a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, but was defeated by eventual nominee Mitt Romney.
