Two-term New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie is running for president with a campaign he promises will undermine former President Donald Trump‘s front-runner status.
“That’s why I came back to St. Anselm’s and that’s why I came back to Manchester and that’s why I came back to New Hampshire — to tell all of you that I intend to seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States,” Christie said Tuesday at a New Hampshire town hall.
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There is “a big argument” in our country right now about whether character matters as men and women “make the big vs. small decisions,” according to Christie.
“Donald Trump made us smaller by dividing us even further. … Joe Biden is doing the very same thing,” Christie said.
“We have leaders who have shown us over and over again that not only are they devoid of character, but they don’t care,” he added.
Christie acknowledged he will not be “the perfect candidate,” nor is he “a perfect person,” conceding to have “made mistakes” and “judgments at times that were wrong.”
“What got me out of bed every day was that in public leadership in this country, you have a chance to do something great every day,” he said.
“Beware of the leader who won’t admit any of those shortcomings,” he went on. “The person I’m talking about, who is obsessed with a mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a fault and will always find someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong but find every reason to take credit for anything. … It’s Donald Trump.”
Christie’s campaign slogan is “Truth matters,” and his new website implores supporters to take part in his “truth movement.”
“Chris Christie believes in it, champions it, and isn’t afraid to tell it like it is,” the website states.
Christie, who sought the Republican nomination against Trump in 2016 before dropping out after underperforming in New Hampshire, pledged to only embark on another campaign if he had a path to victory. That path goes “through” Trump, not around him, according to Christie aides. Staffers have indicated he will spend more time in New Hampshire, with its higher percentage of independent voters than Iowa, whose evangelical community dominates the primary process.
“Running for president of the United States is an intensely personal decision,” Christie told the Washington Examiner. “And that’s one that anybody who’s considering it should have the right to make on their own regardless of anybody else’s thoughts on it.”
Christie, a former Trump friend, campaign adviser, and transition chairman-turned-ABC political commentator and lobbyist, has repeatedly underscored Trump’s weaknesses and losing record, contending nobody knows the onetime president “better than I do.” In 2016, he was among Trump’s first high-profile endorsers before distancing himself from the ex-president over Jan. 6.
“The single most important thing for the Republican Party is to nominate the person who gives us the best chance to beat Hillary Clinton,” he said at the time. “I can guarantee that the one person Hillary and Bill Clinton don’t want to see on that stage come next September is Donald Trump.”
Seven years later, Trump supporters were quick to criticize Christie and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), perceived to be Trump’s most dangerous rival, in a statement that indirectly referenced Christie’s weight.
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“Ron DeSantis’ campaign is spiraling, and President Trump’s dominance over the Republican primary field has opened a mad rush to seize the mantle for runner-up,” Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for Trump PAC Make America Great Again Inc., said. “Ron DeSantis is not ready for this moment, and Chris Christie will waste no time eating DeSantis’ lunch.”
Christie, who was reportedly pushed out of Trump’s inner circle by the former president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for prosecuting Kushner’s father, Charles, when he was a New Jersey U.S. attorney, will also face criticism concerning controversies from his own governorship, including the Fort Lee lane closure scandal and his infamous embrace of former President Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy in 2015.
