Chris Christie is suspending his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, the former New Jersey governor announced Wednesday.
Christie told attendees at a town hall in Windham, New Hampshire, that dropping out of the race is “the right thing for me to do.”
“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,” Christie said.
Veteran political journalist Mark Halperin first reported the news on Wednesday afternoon, citing unnamed sources. Several news outlets quickly confirmed the news. A source close to Christie told the Deseret News that Christie is “out.”
Christie, who also ran for president in 2016, struggled to gain traction early in a crowded field of Republican candidates. His message — centered on critiquing former president Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican nomination — failed to resonate with GOP voters. Christie hovered around 3% to 4% in national polls.
The official start of the Republican primary election is Monday, when Iowans will participate in their GOP caucuses. Christie failed to qualify for the fifth Republican primary debate, to be held tonight in Des Moines. Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis will participate, while Trump will participate in a live Fox News town hall.
The former New Jersey governor did not offer an endorsement of another candidate.
According to a recent University of New Hampshire/CNN poll of likely GOP primary voters, Christie is polling at 12% in New Hampshire, behind Trump’s 39% and Haley’s 32%. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of Christie voters said their second choice is Haley.
A Christie endorsement could go a long way for Haley, who is polling within striking distance of Trump in New Hampshire. But Christie has been critical of Haley in both public and private.
“Let’s say I dropped out of the race right now and I supported Nikki Haley,” Christie said during a town hall Tuesday. “And then three months from now, four months from now, when you’re ready to go to the convention, she comes out as his vice president. What will I look like? What will all the people who supported her at my behest look like?”
Minutes before his announcement Wednesday, Christie was presumably caught on a hot mic, saying that Haley is “going to get smoked.”
“She’s not up to this,” Christie said.
Christie said Wednesday that he will continue to work to keep Trump from winning the Republican nomination, though he did not say what that would entail.
“I want to promise you this,” he said. “I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again.”
For months, anti-Trump Republicans have called on GOP candidates to consolidate in order to keep Trump from winning the nomination. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed in July, Sen. Mitt Romney called on all Republican candidates and donors to coalesce behind a single, non-Trump candidate by the end of February to avoid “split(ting) the non-Trump vote” and awarding the former president a victory. Romney reportedly tried, unsuccessfully, to get GOP candidates to do the same in 2016, when Trump won the nomination.
Though the field has shrunk considerably — at this point in 2016, seven candidates participated in GOP debates, while only two qualified for tonight’s debate — few candidates have endorsed each other. The most notable dropouts in recent months, like former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott, declined to offer an endorsement; only Will Hurd, who was polling around 1% nationally when he suspended his campaign in October, backed one of his challengers. Hurd endorsed Haley.