CNN
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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Tuesday that he is running for president in New Hampshire, launching his second bid for the White House and setting up another showdown with former President Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner and a former ally of Christie.
“I can’t guarantee you success, but I can guarantee you that at the end of the day, you will have no doubt in your mind about who I am and what I stand for and whether I deserve it,” Christie said.
“That’s why I came back to Saint Anselm’s, and that’s why I came back to Manchester, and that’s why I came back to New Hampshire to tell you all that I intend to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2024. And I want your support,” added the former governor.
His announcement, which follows his filing with the Federal Election Commission earlier Tuesday, comes a day after fellow GOP moderate Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire, opted out and less than 24 hours before former Vice President Mike Pence officially entered the race. As in 2016, Christie will try to appeal to more traditionally conservative and pro-establishment Republicans, and hopes he can emerge as a counter to Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a fast-growing field.
In addition to those two, others who have already announced bids include former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. Pence, who has filed paperwork to run, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum join the crowd Wednesday.
As CNN previously reported, Christie believes he is better positioned to take on Trump in the primaries while appealing to independents in a possible general election showdown with President Joe Biden. He begins his candidacy with the support of a new super PAC, called “Tell It Like It Is”, formed by allies in anticipation of his campaign.
Christie’s flirtation with presidential politics began in 2011, when he considered running in a primary to face then-President Barack Obama a year later. He lashed out, then saw his standing with Republicans erode ahead of 2016. His 2016 campaign was short-lived and most memorable for Christie’s snide evisceration of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in a debate February.
Both would eventually drop out – Christie after finishing sixth in the New Hampshire primary – and support Trump.
But Christie went one step further.
He led Trump’s transition team, though his work was eventually scrapped and Christie himself stepped aside days after the election, later becoming a close adviser to the former president. He was floated as a possible appointment for several administration jobs, though none ever materialized. He even participated in mock debates with Trump in 2020. (Christie has said he believes he contracted Covid-19 from Trump, who did not disclose a positive test result, during one of those sessions.)
After Trump’s defeat and subsequent attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Christie turned on him and sought to establish himself as one of Trump’s leading Republican critics.
“We keep losing and losing and losing,” Christie told the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference late last year. “The reason we’re losing is because Donald Trump has put himself before everybody else.”
He also said that Trump “incited” the January 6, 2021 uprising at the U.S. Capitol “in an effort to intimidate Mike Pence and Congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week: Repeal lar the elections”.
In an interview with axes this year, he vowed never to support Trump again.
“I can’t help him,” Christie said. “No way.”
Christie was first elected governor of New Jersey in 2009, unseating Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine. He easily won re-election in the blue state in 2013. He served as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney from 2002 to 2008, during which time he successfully prosecuted the father of Trump’s son-in-law and former aide Jared Kushner for tax evasion and criminal witness tampering charges.
Christie himself was embroiled in the “Bridgegate” scandal during his second term as governor. Emails and texts from key contributors showed that the September 2013 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, which caused massive traffic jams, stemmed from a political vendetta after the Democratic mayor of city refused to support the re-election for governor of Christie.
A federal investigation determined that Christie had no knowledge of the decision to close the lanes, but the scandal continued to follow the former governor.
This story has been updated with the Christie’s campaign announcement.
