Chris Christie, a former governor of New Jersey, is running for president in 2024 with one goal: torpedo Donald Trump's candidature. However, his lack of favorability among Republicans may hamper his attempts to launch a direct assault.
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Seven years ago, his unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 featured explosive exchanges on the debate stage, dismal voting outcomes, and a startlingly early support of Mr. Trump.
Now, Mr. Christie has knocked the front-runner down a notch in order to establish himself as the victor.
According to Republican strategist and former party communications director Doug Heye, "Trump will face a lot of opposition." Everyone will attempt to remove Andre the Giant from the ring during the battle royal.
He claims that would cause the entire leadership campaign to be restarted.
Although Mr. Christie officially submitted the necessary papers for his presidential run on Tuesday, the fiery New Jerseyan is starting this campaign in last place.
Only Mr. Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have widespread support among the contenders who have been officially named so far. A nationwide Republican survey conducted by Fox News and released last week found that less than 1% of respondents supported Mr. Christie. He received 2% in a Quinnipiac poll. Over 30% of the field was behind Mr. Trump in each.
Mr. Christie will need to use the few possibilities available to him in order to alter this dynamic. The Republican presidential debates that will start in late August are the most notable.
What follows is what?
- In the upcoming months, candidates for the Republican nomination will start their campaigns and hold a series of TV debates.
- Next February, each state's primary elections will take place.
- At the Republican Convention in the summer of 2024, the candidate with the highest support will be named the winner.
- The general election in November 2024 seems to pit the nominee against Democrat Joe Biden.
In 2016, Mr. Christie attacked Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was rising in the polls at the time, in a debate just before the New Hampshire primary by characterizing him as overly robotic and programmed. The former governor's aim will be to use his incisive speech and combative demeanour to defeat Mr. Trump with equal effectiveness.
In March, Mr. Christie remarked, "You better have someone on that stage who can do to him what I did to Marco, because that's the only thing that's going to defeat Donald Trump." And because he will come straight back at you, you need to have no fear.
Republican strategist Doug Heye claims that Mr. Christie has the political acumen and ability necessary to spark a similar debate situation this time around.
Christie is not someone who is entering the race only to bolster lecture fees, conduct book tours, and all those other things that individuals who truly have no chance do, the man claims. He definitely has the ability to burst Trump's bubble.
Mr. Christie's issue is that he might never have the chance.
Republican candidates must meet a number of criteria in order to participate in debates, including having a certain number of national campaign funders and receiving at least 1% of the vote in three recent surveys endorsed by the party.
Even if the former governor is eligible, Mr. Trump has reportedly considered missing the first round of debates, leaving the other contenders to square off.
Outside of the debates, Mr. Christie's strategy depends on winning over supporters in New Hampshire, which follows Iowa on the timetable for the Republican presidential primary.
There, he will have a tough task ahead of him. According to a recent poll of Republican voters in the state, Mr. Christie had the lowest net favorability rating of any declared or possible contender at 44%. The majority of voters in that state are aware of him and dislike him.
However, polls indicate that Republican supporters do favor Mr. Trump. That is the reality of a party that Mr. Trump's populist political approach has altered.
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When he became the most well-known establishment Republican official to support the unorthodox candidate at the moment in February 2016, Mr. Christie accelerated that transition.
The endorsement fueled rumors that Mr. Christie might support Mr. Trump for vice president or work for him as a Cabinet member. However, such offers were never fulfilled. And over time, Mr. Christie—who at first declared himself to be "happy to be on team Trump"—started to disparage his old buddy.
After the president's supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and after months of claiming he lost the election, Mr. Christie's opinions on Mr. Trump have grown sharp and vehement.
Donald Trump declared in New Hampshire in April that he was "just a TV star, nothing more, nothing less." "Let me suggest to you that the reruns will be worse than the original show in putting him back in the White House."
Republican voters might not prefer the option that the former governor is putting out.
The latter years of Mr. Christie's tenure as governor of New Jersey were marked by scandal. After his unsuccessful run for president in 2017, he was shown relaxing with family on a state beach in New Jersey that was otherwise deserted because of a disagreement over the state's budget between the governor and the state. The governor became a laughingstock of the nation after that incident.
He intends to change the political history by running for president in 2024. But in order to achieve that, he will have to go through Donald Trump.
