Ex-Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican, is reportedly stepping down from the GOP presidential nomination race, following a series of low polling results just days before the Iowa Caucuses are set to begin.
Journalist Mark Halperin, in a Substack post, initially broke the news that Christie plans to withdraw from the campaign on Wednesday. Bloomberg News subsequently verified Christie’s impending exit, citing sources close to the situation. An official announcement is anticipated at an event in New Hampshire on Wednesday, according to the report.
Nationally, Christie’s average polling figures, as per RealClearPolling (RCP), are at 3.5 percent, placing him in fifth position. He trails behind former President Donald Trump, ex-Governor Nikki Haley of Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Christie’s performance in Iowa reflected similar trends, with an RCP average of 3.4 percent. However, his prospects seemed slightly brighter in New Hampshire, where he was the only candidate, apart from Trump and Haley, to reach double digits in the RCP average, securing 12 percent.
Despite his past efforts, Christie’s campaign has now come to a halt before even reaching the initial contest in Iowa, a contrast to his 2016 run, which concluded in New Hampshire.
During his campaign, Christie positioned himself as a prominent critic of Donald Trump, openly attacking the former president. In the NewsNation debate in December, he labeled Trump a “dictator” and argued that Trump’s potential return to the Oval Office would be driven by a desire for “retribution.”
These criticisms of Trump garnered strong reactions, particularly from the 45th president himself. In a post on Truth Social, Trump referred to Christie as a “Sloppy RINO Dog,” a remark made shortly after their debate. Trump also reminisced about Christie’s performance in the 2016 New Hampshire primary, where Christie finished sixth.
In his post, Trump remarked, “Sloppy Chris Christie did so poorly in the Great State of New Hampshire in 2016 that immediately after the votes were counted, he dropped out and endorsed me. New Hampshire doesn’t like that Sloppy RINO Dog, and they don’t like Ron, who is in 5th place, either. MAGA!” This statement encapsulates Trump’s critique of both Christie and DeSantis’s standings in the race.
Good! Christy is as dirty as they come!
if the republican primary names the devil as the winner, I will gladly vote for the devil–