With a website that live-streamed a town hall in New Hampshire, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came out of the gate on Tuesday as a candidate for president.
Christie formally declared his intention to seek the Republican nomination in 2024 on Tuesday. He joins one of the largest — and growing — rosters of GOP candidates in recent history and he made it clear he is not afraid taking on former President Donald J. Trump, who easily bested Christie in the 2016 primaries, when there were 17 major Republican candidates prior to the GOP nominating convention.
Christie criticized Trump for growing the national deficit by $3 trillion during his term in office, and for Trump’s excessive admiration of Russia President Vladimir Putin, who he called a thug. He also said President Joe Biden showed how weak he is when Biden said that a “small incursion” by Russia into Ukraine “wouldn’t be a problem.”
Christie spoke authoritatively about foreign policy and the war in Ukraine.
“This is a beginning of a hot proxy war between China and the United States,” Christie said.
He spoke at length about China’s various tentacles of aggression, saying “my concern about this is we’ve allowed them to have advantages. It needs to stop, in my opinion.”
“The reason I’m here tonight is because this is one of those moments,” Christie remarked, drawing the parallel between America’s history of freeing Europe starting on D-Day 79 years ago, and the current political landscape.
At 60 years old, Christie presents himself as the candidate most ready to challenge not only Trump, but also Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but polls put him at about 1%. DeSantis has consistently polled in second place for the Republican nomination.
Only about 2,000 people tuned in to watch it live on YouTube. Trump went to social media to make fun of Christie’s weight.
This is Christie’s second bid for president and he is clearly a long-shot in a field that already has several other long shots, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who filed his paperwork on Monday with the Federal Election Commission and is expected to roll out his campaign on Wednesday.
Others besides Trump who have formally declared are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, commentator Larry Elder, Dallas businessman Ryan Binkley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. In addition to Pence, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is also planning to announce this week, sources said. That makes 10 for the Republican side so far.
