Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) is bowing out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination amid poor polling numbers days before the Iowa Caucuses.
Journalist Mark Halperin first reported on Substack that Christie is expected to depart from the trail on Wednesday. Bloomberg News confirmed Christie’s forthcoming departure soon after, citing “people familiar with his plans.” His announcement is set to come at a New Hampshire event Wednesday, per the outlet.
At the national level, Christie’s polling average on RealClearPolling (RCP) registers at 3.5 percent, good enough for fifth place behind former President Donald Trump, former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-FL), Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), and Vivek Ramaswamy.
While he fared equally poorly in Iowa polling, with an average of 3.4 percent on RCP, it appeared he was best poised to drum up long-shot momentum in New Hampshire, where he is the only candidate outside of Trump and Haley in double digits in the RCP average with 12 percent.
But while New Hampshire marked the end of the road for the deeply unpopular former New Jersey governor in 2016, he will not even make it to the first contest in the Hawkeye State this time around.
Christie ran as the chief Trump critic in the field, attacking Trump as a “dictator” during the NewsNation debate in December and contending Trump wants to “exact retribution if he gets back into the Oval Office.”
Christie’s Trump-bashing drew the ire of th 45th president on the trail, with Trump calling him a “Sloppy RINO Dog” in a December Truth Social post just over a week after the debate. Trump also trolled him over his 2016 performance in the Granite State, where he finished in sixth place.
“Sloppy Chris Christie did so poorly in the Great State of New Hampshire in 2016 that immediately after the votes were counted, he dropped out and endorsed me,” the 45th president wrote in a post.
“New Hampshire doesn’t like that Sloppy RINO Dog, and they don’t like Ron, who is in 5th place, either. MAGA!” Trump added.
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