LONDONDERRY, N.H. – Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he is “disappointed” that he did not land the endorsement of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu within the Republican presidential nomination race.
However Christie stated that Sununu’s backing former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley within the state that holds the primary major and second total contest within the GOP presidential nominating calendar “doesn’t change my strategy here one bit.”
And he pushed again on Sununu’s suggestion that Christie and Haley’s different Republican White Home rivals ought to get out of the race, telling Fox Information Digital that “I’m not going anywhere, so let’s be really clear about that.”
Christie made his feedback as he took questions from reporters following a city corridor Wednesday night time in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Christie returned to the Granite State on the identical day that Sununu was persevering with to marketing campaign with Haley throughout New Hampshire after endorsing her the earlier night.
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Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire (proper) endorses former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, at a marketing campaign occasion in Manchester N.H. on Dec. 12, 2023 (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
Sununu, a well-liked Republican governor who’s received election and re-election to 4 two-year phrases as governor within the essential northeastern battleground state, had stated for weeks that his endorsement would come right down to Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Christie, who he is recognized for over a decade.
Haley has been rising within the polls the previous couple of months and is at present in second place within the surveys in New Hampshire, far behind former President Donald Trump, who stays the commanding front-runner for the GOP nomination as he makes his third straight White Home run.
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Christie, who’s repeating his technique from his unsuccessful 2016 Republican presidential run of putting all his chips in New Hampshire, stands in third place in Granite State polls, a few factors behind Haley.
“I would have been happy to accept his support,” Christie stated of Sununu.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, headlines a city corridor in Londonderry, New Hampshire on Dec. 13, 2023. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
However he downplayed the importance of the Sununu endorsement, arguing that “I would have known exactly what it meant. It meant one vote. And it would have been nice to hang around with him, and we could have done a buddy show like he and Nikki are doing, but in the end, these voters are not going to be told by anybody who to vote for.”
“I’m disappointed. I’m not going to be stupid about it. It’s disappointing not to get it but on the other hand, it doesn’t change my strategy here one bit,” he highlighted.
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Requested after endorsing Haley on Tuesday if Christie ought to drop out of the race, Sununu informed Fox Information that “I’m behind Nikki Haley. I think they should all get out frankly, including former President Trump. I think everyone should kind of clear the way.”
However he acknowledged “they’re going to keep campaigning.”
A day later, Fox Information Digital requested Christie about Sununu’s feedback.
“He should know better,” Christie responded. “It’s not his job to tell anybody when to get out. He can support whomever he likes, but it’s not his job to tell anybody when it’s time to get out of the race. That’s an individual choice to make and I’m not going anywhere, so let’s be really clear about that.”
An evening earlier, Sununu informed Fox Information that he had not given both Christie or DeSantis a heads-up that he was going to endorse Haley.
“I learned about it on-line,” Christie informed Fox Information. “That’s not the way I would have done it but everybody has to account for their own sense of what represents integrity and what doesn’t.”
Christie spoke with reporters after taking questions for greater than an hour and a half from the group in a jam-packed American Legion put up on this Republican-leaning city.
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The previous New Jersey governor took intention at Haley early and infrequently throughout the city corridor, beginning with what he known as her “word salad” solutions relating to the flamable challenge of abortion. Later within the city corridor he accused her of “political pandering.”
“The voters in this state have a right to know where she stands. Not just her happy talk. They have a right to know where she stands,” Christie informed reporters after the city corridor.
And he charged that Haley’s “unwilling to do it. She wants to be everything to everybody on that issue [abortion]. It’s too important an issue, it’s too personal an issue, and it’s too serious an issue to not answer it directly. I’ve answered it directly. She hasn’t.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Chris Christie (middle), a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, and his spouse Mary Pat (proper), be a part of the Salvation Military for bell ringing at a grocery store in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on Dec. 13, 2023 (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
Sununu’s a lot coveted endorsement was a disappointment for DeSantis, however he is concentrating most of his time and assets in Iowa, whose Jan. 15 caucuses kick off the GOP nominating calendar.
But it surely’s way more of a setback for Christie, who together with Haley is aiming for a robust end in New Hampshire.
Veteran Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett famous that “Christie is planting the flag in New Hampshire and to have the governor of the state, who clearly likes him and has an affinity for him, go with someone else and affirm that someone else has a much better pathway, if that’s your only state, it’s almost impossible, not just in New Hampshire but nationwide, to get the nomination.”
“He’s got to look in the mirror,” Bartlett stated of Christie.
Neil Levesque, the manager director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm Faculty, stated that the Sununu endorsement “does not help Chris Christie, and it is certainly a blow to his campaign.”
However he added that “I don’t think it changes the fact that he’s going to campaign here in New Hampshire and seek the votes, and you never know what’s going to happen.”
State Rep. Wayne MacDonald, a former state GOP chair who heads Christie’s steering committee in New Hampshire, informed Fox Information that “certainly we would much prefer to have Gov. Sununu on board with us than with Gov. Haley.”
However he emphasised that “endorsements are nice but I think there’s a lot of hype attached to them. With all due respect to Gov. Sununu, I don’t think this is a game-changer.”
