Does Chris Christie Have A Shot At Winning? – Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced he’s making another run for the Oval Office on Tuesday. The question everyone’s asking is why?
Can Christie actually win, or is there another motive behind his decision to launch this 2024 campaign?
Let’s Get This Straight…
Short of an electoral miracle, Christie will not win the GOP nomination. The fact that he launched his 2024 campaign from Manchester, New Hampshire likely won’t help him do much better than his 2015 sixth-place finish in the primary, either.
He’s currently polling somewhere south of 1% nationally.
However, Christie has significant donor reach, raising a hefty $32.3 million in the 2016 cycle from his campaign committee and outside groups.
Christie knows how to raise money and create savvy political alliances and will be able to potentially position himself in deciding who becomes the 2024 Republican nominee.
In this way Christie could potentially play spoiler to Trump.
An Anti-Trump Alliance?
Christie claims he was pushed out of a position in the Trump White House due to the intervention of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
As a former US attorney, Christie prosecuted Kushner’s father Charles for witness tampering, tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions in 2003.
Christie said that Charles’ attempt to seduce his brother-in-law by hiring an escort and capturing it on video was one of the most “disgusting” crimes he dealt with in his prosecutorial role.
According to Christie, Kushner was still “seething” over the imprisonment of his dad and thus blocked him from a role in Trump’s inner circle.
The point is that Christie and Trump have bad blood, formalized in Christie’s post-January 6 denunciation of Trump as a danger to the country and his recent naming of Trump as a “loser.”
If he can fundraise enough money, partner with allies in key states and get his ads and debate quips in front of enough eyeballs (assuming he can meet the threshold to be in the debates), Christie likely plans to act as a kingmaker in the GOP race and do serious damage to Trump.
In any case, this isn’t about a new book deal, since Christie already penned his latest tome less than two years ago.
Trump Camp Responds to Chris Christie
Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has dismissed Christie as a “kamikaze candidate” who won’t get anywhere in the 2024 cycle.
Christie has also been roundly criticized as a joke candidate among the MAGA grassroots and accused of being insincere in his newfound opposition to Trump. It’s certainly true that Christie was a key Trump ally during the 2016 election campaign.
Does Christie have what it takes to win?
That is extremely unlikely, to say the least. But if you’re asking if Christie has the Trump to cause a lot of headaches and debate gaffes for Trump, as well as fellow candidate Ron DeSantis, the answer is absolutely.
Paul Brian is an author and freelance journalist who has reported for Reuters, BBC and Foreign Policy, and contributed to the Spectator, the Federalist and the American Conservative. He has covered global events from Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East to South America.
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