Chris Christie Ends Presidential Campaign, Offers No Endorsement

Chris Christie announced Wednesday that he is ending his presidential campaign.

Many Republicans, including New Hampshire Governor Chis Sununu, have called for Christie (whose poll numbers have consistently been between 10-15%) to drop out in order to consolidate support around Nikki Haley. Haley is running second to former president Donald Trump, and Sununu endorsed and has been campaigning for her.

At an event in Windham, Christie pulled the plug on his campaign less than two weeks before the first in the nation presidential primary. “It is 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,” Christie said without endorsing another candidate."I know it's the right thing 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," Christie said.

In a statement, Haley commended Christie on a hard-fought campaign. "Voters have a clear choice in this election: the chaos and drama of the past or a new generation of conservative leadership. I will fight to earn every vote, so together we can build a strong and proud America," Haley wrote.

In a statement, the Write In Joe Biden campaign said that it welcomes former Christie supporters.

"Joe Biden is the only one running in either party who has beaten Donald Trump before and will beat him again. We welcome any backers of Chris Christie who want to truly stand against Trump to join us in writing-in Joe Biden, rather than supporting a candidate who would sign a national abortion ban, has promised to pardon Trump, and has not ruled out serving as his Vice President. Nikki Haley is not the solution," spokesman Aaron Jacobs wrote in a statement.

Christie's announcement was not without controversy, as he was caught on a hot microphone saying Haley was "going to get smoked" and that she is not up to challenging Trump.

"I agree with Christie that Nikki Haley is 'going to get smoked," candidate Ron DeSantis wrote on his X account.

Sununu, who endorsed Haley, told CNN's "The Lead" Tuesday that a vote for Christie is a vote for Trump.

"A vote for Christie is a vote being taken away from Nikki Haley and prevents delivering that loss to the former president," Sununu said. "That's what Chris' message and mission has always been. Commit on this mission."

The four-term Republican governor, who passed on his own run for the White House, said that Christie's leadership team is trying to talk him into dropping out and critical of his campaign.

"He has no ground game. He's not even trying, even in the next two or three days, he could be here doing 10 events a day he's doing like two," Sununu said, adding that he has spoken to members of the team, although he would not name them.

Christie told WMUR that he is unaware of any such discussion, and said he is the one who makes decisions about his campaign. Christie said that Sununu did not call him to let him know he was endorsing Haley, and instead found out through news reports.

Christie called Sununu’s trip to Iowa to campaign for Haley a “fantasy trip” because he didn’t “have the guts” to run for president himself.

A CNN/UNH Granite State Poll cuts Donald Trump's lead over Nikki Haley to just seven points, 39%-32%.  Christie comes in third with 13%, Vivek Ramaswamy at 8%, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with 5%.

A second poll by USA Today/Boston Globe/Suffolk University shows Trump with a large lead over Haley 46%-26%, Christie with 12%, DeSantis with 8%, and Ramaswamy at 2%.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via X (Twitter) @DanAlexanderNH