Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced the suspension of his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday during an event in Windham, New Hampshire.
During Wednesday’s town hall event in New Hampshire, Christie explained, “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.”
The former New Jersey governor’s campaign consistently attacked former President Donald Trump and pledged to offer an alternative to the “Make America Great Again” platform. However, after failing to gain momentum in the Republican primary race, Christie decided to announce the suspension of his campaign prior to the upcoming Iowa caucuses.
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Fox News reported that the former governor had faced pressure from voters and other Republicans to suspend his campaign in order to give former South Carolina Governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley a chance to cut into Trump’s continued lead in the polls.
While Christie acknowledged that many of the town hall attendees would be disappointed by his announcement, he claimed that the decision to drop out of the presidential race was “the right thing” for him to do.
“I want to promise you this – I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again,” the former New Jersey governor told his supporters. “And that’s more important than my own personal ambitions.”
According to Fox News, Christie told reporters last week that he knows when he is not performing well in a political race.
“I dropped out after the New Hampshire primary eight years ago because I didn’t do as well as I thought I would,” he said. “I have no interest in doing this if it doesn’t lead to success. So that’s the bottom line.”
Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, Christie was heard on a microphone commenting about how Haley was going to be “smoked” by Trump in the GOP primary, according to Fox News. Seemingly unaware that his microphone was on, the anti-Trump Republican added, “She’s not up for this.” Christie was also heard discussing how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, another 2024 presidential candidate, had called him and was “petrified.”
