(Daily Caller News Foundation) — Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced on Tuesday that he’s running for president in 2024.
Christie, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2016, had been dropping hints of a potential run for months, with his allies forming a super PAC in late May to help support his imminent candidacy. The former two-term governor announced he’s seeking the Republican nomination, while recanting American history and digging at former President Donald Trump, according to his speech at a Saint Anselm College town hall in New Hampshire.
“I can’t guarantee you success in what I’m about to do, but I guarantee you that at the end of it you will have no doubt in your mind who I am and what I stand for and whether I deserve it,” said Christie. “I intend to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2024, and I want your support.”
The former governor talked about Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, and contrasted himself with Trump. Christie slammed the former president for not accepting the 2020 election results and for not taking the blame when things go wrong, among many others criticisms.
“If you can’t admit to the people you want to lead that you’re not going to be perfect, and if you decide that the people who asked to come with you to lead will always be the ones who are blamed when anything goes wrong, that they’ll be called names, that they’ll be dismissed, and then after they leave your service, they’re nothing but idiots — beware,” Christie said of Trump. “Because that leader not only will not serve you, they will not be able to find anybody who will serve them. And a lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog is not a leader.”
Christie’s campaign will be “non-traditional” and will zero in on “engaging Trump,” a source familiar previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The frequent Trump critic will position himself as the candidate who isn’t afraid to speak his mind or criticize the former President.
The former governor came out against Trump following his allegations that there was election fraud when he lost to Joe Biden in 2020, to which Christie argued there wasn’t evidence of. Prior to his announcement, he began presenting himself as the “viable Trump alternative” and said that’s why he “intends to be the nominee.”
The outside fundraising group Tell It Like It Is PAC will be run by Brian Jones, a former adviser to both John McCain and Mitt Romney’s presidential bids. Republican National Committee member Bill Palatucci will chair the super PAC and Christie-aide Russ Shriefer will be the senior adviser for the group.
“Gov. Christie has proven he’s unafraid to tell it like it is and is willing to confront the hard truths that currently threaten the future of the Republican Party,” Jones said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “Now more than ever we need leaders that have the courage to say not what we want to hear, but what we need to hear.”
The former governor was initially elected in 2009, where he unseated incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine 48.5% to 44.9%, and won re-election in 2013 by over 20 points, according to Ballotpedia. Christie withdrew from the 2016 Republican primaries after coming in sixth in New Hampshire with only 7.4% support and later endorsed Trump for president.
The Real Clear Politics (RCP) average for the 2024 national Republican primary, based on polls conducted between May 8 and May 22, indicates that Christie has 1% support.
Along with the former president, Christie enters an increasingly growing Republican primary field with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and conservative radio personality Larry Elder. Former Vice President Mike Pence and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are expected to announce their candidacies today.
“Donald Trump made us smaller by dividing us even further and pitting one group against another,” said Christie. “And now Joe Biden is doing the very same thing, just on the other side of the political divide.”
