Chris Christie is running for president?: The former New Jersey governor, who was the first establishment Republican to back Donald Trump in the 2016 race, will announce that he’s running against him, with backing from a prominent financial world figure
Chris Christie: Will He Run?
When then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ran for president in 2016, his lane was the East Coast loudmouth who could get things done.
But then Donald Trump came along, took that lane for himself, and won the nomination. Christie, in February 2016, became the first establishment Republican figure to endorse Trump.
Christie and Trump went on to have a complex relationship over the next several years. Christie was named head of Trump’s transition, only to have that designation pulled once Trump won the election. Christie, despite numerous rumors, was never given any type of official role in the Trump Administration, reportedly because Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and top advisor, was bitter that Christie had prosecuted his father when he was U.S. Attorney.
The former New Jersey governor was much more willing than most in Trumpworld to criticize the president, including his reported refusal to back Trump after the “Access Hollywood” tape late in the 2016 campaign, something that Steve Bannon once said is what cost Christie a cabinet position. Christie broke with Trump for good after January 6, and has frequently criticized his former ally from his perch as an analyst on ABC News’ “This Week.”
What He Might Have Planned
Now, it appears Christie will be taking on Trump more directly: Veteran New Hampshire political reporter Chris Ryan said Thursday that Christie will be “announcing a run for President in the coming days.” The campaign will “focus on New Hampshire” and will have financial backing from hedge fund titan Steve Cohen, who owns Christie’s favorite baseball team, the New York Mets. Cohen had also backed Christie’s 2016 run.
Per the New York Post, Christie is being endorsed by another former Trump world figure: Anthony Scaramucci, who infamously served as White House Communications Director for just 11 days in the summer of 2017.
Can He Win?
Does Christie have a chance to win the Republican nomination? Probably not.
He was barely a factor in 2016, finishing sixth in New Hampshire and then dropping out, and the Morning Consult tracking poll of the GOP race does not even include his name, as he’s likely part of the 1 percent in the answers of “someone else.”
But a presidential run would provide Christie an opportunity to take on Trump directly, including on a debate stage.
While Trump was frequently at odds with his opponents in the 2016 race, his 2024 Republican opponents will include several people – Christie, Ron DeSantis, and most likely Mike Pence — with whom the former president has a long and complicated history.
That is, of course, assuming that Trump actually agrees to debate his opponents.
The former New Jersey governor has also been critical of DeSantis, especially in his fight with Disney.
Christie has something in common with DeSantis- he also won a landslide re-election for governor, before hitting massive headwinds almost immediately afterward. In Christie’s case, this was the 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal, in which three of Christie’s staffers and appointees were convicted of crimes, but Christie himself was not officially accused of any wrongdoing.
Back in April, Politico took an in-depth look at Christie’s decision process when it came to another presidential run.
“I’m not a paid assassin,” Christie told Politico. “When you’re waking up for your 45th morning at the Hilton Garden Inn in Manchester, you better think you can win, because that walk from the bed to the shower, if you don’t think you can win, it’s hard.”
He added that Trump’s vulnerability as a candidate “needs to be called out and it needs to be called out by somebody who knows him… Nobody knows Donald Trump better than I do.”
Christie also said that now that his kids are grown, unlike in 2016, he and his wife can travel more easily on the trail.
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Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
