2024 presidential candidate Chris Christie believes Republicans made “a mistake” by not targeting former President Donald Trump when he first ran in 2016, saying they were focused on fighting each other rather than working together to find a more viable option.
Christie was asked in an interview with ABC News’s “This Week” about whether he regretted not taking a swing at Trump instead of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) — both Rubio and Christie ran for president in 2016.
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The former New Jersey governor followed up in saying all of the GOP candidates that year made that mistake in not going after Trump.
“I wish that I had taken swings at both of them, Jon, looking back on it,” he said. “I think we all made a mistake in 2016 — myself, Marco, Jeb Bush, John Kasich — in not going after Donald Trump.”
Trump’s candidacy for president was largely underestimated during the 2016 campaign until he got on the first Republican National Committee debate stage.
“I think we all were under the illusion that somehow what was obvious to us at the moment, that there were better candidates on the stage than him, would be obvious to the public,” Christie said. “It wasn’t, and I think it should inform everybody’s approach to the race this time. It certainly is informing mine.”
Trump, Christie, and six other GOP candidates have qualified for the RNC’s first debate for the 2024 elections on Aug. 23. The other six are Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND).
Christie said Sunday he has not been presented with the RNC loyalty pledge, a document that all debate attendees must sign in order to appear.
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The pledge signifies that the GOP candidate who signs it will agree to support the Republican presidential nominee, regardless of who it is. Haley, Ramaswamy, DeSantis, Burgum, Scott, and Pence have all said they have signed the pledge.
The former president has, so far, not yet committed to competing on the debate stage — citing his high polling numbers, and popularity among voters. Christie expects Trump to sign the pledge, which the RNC requires no later than 48-hours before the first debate.
