Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie seems to be keeping hope alive while looking for that mysterious lane within the Republican primary field that eluded him in 2016.
As most observers would note, Christe made a mistake in his choice to pass on running against President Obama in 2012, a race that was better timed to coincide with his political stardom. He was popular at the time and his in-your-face style of politics, in the pre-Trump era, was playing well with conservatives looking for a fighter. Alas, Christie demurred in 2012 and instead joined the race in 2016 where he dropped out early and endorsed Donald Trump.
Now, as for 2024, Christie once again seems to be stirring the pot and shaking the magic eight ball hoping to see a sign that his brand of Republicanism is what’s missing from the current field:
Former New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie laid out a time frame for when he will decide whether to jump into the 2024 race for president.
“Next 45 to 60 days,” he told the Washington Examiner, noting that a campaign is still something he is actively considering.
“I think running for president of the United States is an intensely personal decision. And that’s one that anybody who’s considering it should have the right to make on their own regardless of anybody else’s thoughts on it,” Christie said.
“You have a number of people both in the race and considering the race against what is, in essence, an incumbent president. I think that tells you, just by definition, that he’s weaker than he was in the lead-up to 2020,” Christie said, contending that Trump has regularly “let us down.”
“President Trump said in 2016 that we were going to do so much winning that we would get sick of winning and ask him to stop winning,” Christie said before ticking through the GOP’s record of losses in 2018, 2020, and 2022. “With Donald Trump at the top of the ticket, you can be sure of the fact that we’ll have another four years of Joe Biden, and that to me is not acceptable for this country.”
Christie–a once Trump ally turned Trump foe–is staking out the ground as some kind of anti-Trump and anti-DeSantis candidate. That lane, for the moment, is basically empty which is why Christie must be tickling the possibility of another run. He’s fooling himself, however, if he thinks that voters are ready to reject both top contenders.
Collectively, Trump and DeSantis are holding about 80% of Republican primary voters according to recent polls. Trying to carve something out of that remaining 20% is not a winning strategy, something that Christie’s moderate counterpart, former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, already came to realize.
As far as the issues go, the topic of Ukraine seems to be a sticking point where Christie splits with Trump and DeSantis:
Recently, Christie opined on the war in Ukraine when Fox News host Tucker Carlson put out a questionnaire to potential 2024 aspirants. He affirmed his stance that the United States should stand by Ukraine. DeSantis drew backlash from some Republicans for describing the conflict as a “territorial dispute.”
“This is an authoritarian regime who is invading a sovereign democratic country and trying to take its land by force,” Christie said. “All we’re doing is helping the Ukrainians defend themselves.”
“If America walks away from that leadership role in the world, believe me, that vacuum will be filled … by the Chinese and the Russians,” Christie added. “And that will not make it a safer or more secure world. I think on this, Gov. DeSantis is either hopelessly naive or hopelessly cynical.”
The Ukraine matter will be an ongoing debate within the GOP. On the one hand, the hawkish faction of the party, people like Christie and Sen. Lindsey Graham. On the other side, outsiders like Trump and now even Ron DeSantis that want to keep the conflict at arm’s length.
Christie is currently making moves consistent with the exploration of a possible campaign such as his upcoming trip to the early primary state of New Hampshire.
Anything’s possible but it still seems unlikely Christie will pull the trigger anytime in the next few months unless he does so just to enter the race for spite.
