Chris Christie suspends 2024 presidential campaign
By Sofia Mendes
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie announced the end of his presidential campaign on Wednesday at a town hall in Windham, New Hampshire. This announcement marks the end of former President Trump’s most prominent critic as Christie ran as the only prominent Republican candidate outwardly declaring Trump unfit for office.
Christie’s final criticisms of Trump in the last few moments of his campaign were overshadowed when Christie was caught on a hot mic dismissing other Republican candidates on his town hall livestream minutes before the event.
“She’s going to get smoked, and you and I both know it,” said Christie, presumably referring to Republican candidate Nikki Haley. “She’s not up to this.”
Christie continued bashing the amount of funds both Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis have spent on television advertising. Another person speaking with Christie speculated that DeSantis was “probably getting out after Iowa.”
The audio on the live stream cut out after a few minutes and the video stream was taken down shortly after.
In his final speech, Christie did not endorse any of the remaining Republican candidates offering no positive comments about any of their campaigns. Instead, he noted his regret regarding his endorsement of Trump in 2016 stating that the questions he faced in the wake of that decision are questions that “don’t ever leave.”
The end of Christie’s presidential bid also follows a recent CNN/University of New Hampshire poll. The results found Trump’s lead in the Republican primary race in New Hampshire in the single digits with 39% of likely Republican primary voters supporting Trump, 32% supporting Nikki Haley, and 12% supporting Christie.
Additionally, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu has not only endorsed Nikki Haley but stated that Christie’s campaign was “at an absolute dead end,” suggesting he drop out of the race altogether.
Many expect that the end of Christie’s campaign may transform the upcoming New Hampshire primary election into a two-candidate race between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.