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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who lost to Donald J. Trump in the 2016 presidential primary, filed papers on Tuesday saying he would seek the 2024 Republican nomination, setting up a rematch with the former president. and expanded the scope of the election campaign. Republican candidate.
Christie, 60, has positioned herself as the person most likely to attack both former friend-turned-enemy Trump and No. 2 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in his reelection bid. In just about every Republican primary public poll in recent months. For Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Christie’s presence in the campaign may be unwelcome, and his growing number of candidates undermines his ability to solidify his support.
Christie, who announced her candidacy at a city hall-style event in New Hampshire on Tuesday night and promised to “speak straight from New Jersey,” has already made aggressive allegations against Trump based on the former president’s policies. are starting to In other words, he made many promises, but he never kept them. The lawsuit is a case that other candidates have largely avoided, instead mostly avoiding Trump’s name. Mr. Christie, by contrast, criticized him squarely.
“The reason I’m here tonight is because this is one of those moments,” Christie said in a speech that began with America’s history of confronting foreign dictators, including World War II and the Cold War. said.
He has previously ridiculed Trump’s dwindling crowds, called him a loser, and his actions led pro-Trump mobs to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021. said he crossed the line.
And he said he could earn himself the nomination. “I am a strong replacement for Mr. Trump,” Mr. Christie recently told the Daily Beast.
Still, Mr. Christie’s path to the nomination is complicated. He’s a Northeastern Republican who hasn’t been caught in the Trump-era culture wars. His main route would inevitably be through New Hampshire, where he campaigned fiercely in 2016 but ultimately fell short. And it will need to rely on attention from the candidate debates to gain momentum.
The audience at the New Hampshire Political Institute on Tuesday appeared to be made up almost entirely of independents who could vote in the primary, although Democrats were also sprinkled in. Nearly everyone disapproves of Mr. Trump, and Mr. Christie may revitalize a small but passionate group of supporters.
“He’s a very capable man,” former judge Paul R. Qufoley Sr. of Bedford, New Hampshire, said of Mr. Christie. “He’s very centrist. Frankly, he’s not a right-wing lunatic like many of them.” “It’s hard work,” he said.
With no Democratic race expected, many New Hampshire independents could play a key role in the 2024 Republican primary.
Mr. Christie’s campaign will rely heavily on media coverage and agile coverage of the most likely locations. New Hampshire is the state where he will start his campaign, but not necessarily where he will settle.
He must meet the criteria set by the Republican National Committee, which includes 40,000 unique donors, to be on the table.
But if successful, as a former friend of Trump, he has a keen understanding of the former president and how to get inside Trump. Depending on how the campaign unfolds, Mr. Christie’s main impact could be hugely damaging to Mr. Trump, who has been vehemently attacking him. But in recent weeks, he has received encouragement from many Republican donors and senior officials, especially since Mr. DeSantis stumbled before becoming a formal candidate.
Former federal prosecutor Christie attacks Trump’s various legal woes as he is the first ex-president to be indicted and faces the possibility of additional charges in other cases. You will be in a unique position to
Still, Mr. Christie will face questions about his transition from Trump supporter to detractor. (Trump called Christie an “opportunist” after his departure).
Christie was a popular candidate for some Republicans in the 2012 election campaign, but he is one of the country’s most famous governors, and his ties to union leaders and how he balances the budget is a challenge. He was known to sell himself as an expert in But instead of running that year when his star was on the rise, he chose to focus on running for re-election, capturing national attention for his response during devastating Hurricane Sandy, and also winning New Jersey elections. He was criticized by some Republicans for showing up with President Barack Obama in the state. Days before the election, at events related to the aftermath of the storm.
Anger among Republicans foreshadowed a political environment in which Republicans would punish elected representatives for pledging allegiance to Democrats.
When Mr. Christie announced his candidacy for president in 2015, there were already no Democratic incumbents, but the so-called Bridgegate political retaliation scandal that threw the administration into disarray two years earlier thwarted his candidacy. was impeded. Christie denied his involvement in a reprisal scheme that allegedly closed lanes on the George Washington Bridge to retaliate against the governor’s political opponents, and in 2020 the convictions against the two defendants were overturned by the Supreme Court. was done. But by then, Mr. Christie’s political fortunes had been damaged.
After withdrawing from the 2016 campaign, Christie endorsed Trump in February of the same year, becoming one of the first prominent Republicans to endorse him. The support is valuable for Trump, who has tried to appeal to skeptical Republicans over his calls for a Muslim immigration ban and his misogynistic remarks about Fox News host Megan Kelly. It was something
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