Chris Christie hit back at calls to withdraw from the Republican presidential primaries, launching a new ad calling Donald Trump a liar and warning the former president will “burn America to the ground.”
The former New Jersey governor, a longtime Trump critic, doubled down on his long-awaited presidential bid in a direct-to-camera ad aimed at voters in New Hampshire, the first primary of the 2024 Republican election.
“Some people say I should drop out of this race. Real? I'm the only one who says Donald Trump is a liar,” Christie said.
He further warns about Trump: 'He will burn America down to help himself. Every Republican leader says I'm the only one saying this publicly. What kind of president do we want, a liar or someone who has the nerve to tell the truth? New Hampshire. It is up to you.'
Chris Christie hit back at calls for him to withdraw from the Republican presidential primaries
Trump has a huge lead in the polls for the Republican presidential candidate.
In the Polling average from RealClearPoliticsChristie has only 3 percent. Trump has 63 percent. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis comes closest to Trump, polling at just 11 percent.
Christie's campaign made a seven-figure purchase in New Hampshire to debut the ad, according to CNN.
His move comes about four weeks before voters go to the polls there.
He has run a small campaign, counting on media interviews and his debate appearances to keep his candidacy going until voters cast ballots.
Christie is counting on New Hampshire to give him a boost in the race with a strong performance there.
But other Republican candidates — including Nikki Haley — are making the same bet. And there has been pressure on some of the trailing candidates, like Christie, to drop out so that anti-Trump support could be concentrated on one contender.
Haley has been gaining momentum and support from donors lately. In the RealClearPolitics average of New Hampshire polls, Trump leads with 46 percent, but Haley is in second place with 25 percent. Christie is third with 11 percent.
But she's also cleaning up after a major mistake in the state, when she didn't bring up slavery at a town hall event in Berlin, N.H., Wednesday night after being asked about the causes of the Civil War.
Republicans and Democrats pounced on her. She quickly clarified her comments Thursday in an interview with New Hampshire Public Radio: “Of course the Civil War was about slavery. We know that, there is no doubt about it, that is always the case. We know the Civil War was about slavery.”
'But it was also more than that. It was about the freedoms of every individual. It was about the role of government… by the grace of God we did the right thing and slavery is no more.”
Donald Trump has a huge lead in the polls for the Republican presidential candidate
Nikki Haley is running in second place behind Donald Trump in New Hampshire, but is also cleaning up after a big mistake there
Christie is skipping the Iowa caucuses – the first primaries – and it is unclear whether he will reach the threshold for the next debate, on January 10.
Haley, meanwhile, received the endorsement of New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who is influential in that state.
Last week, Christie noted that even if he left the race before the New Hampshire primary, not all of his supporters would necessarily support Haley.
He told a voter at a house party in Portsmouth that if Haley showed him “she was actually running against Donald Trump,” he would “maybe” consider supporting her.
But, Christie argued, “Nikki will not answer the question” of whether she would accept a vice presidential role from Trump, something he and DeSantis have both said they would reject.
Christie has played his role as an anti-Trump candidate, while Haley has focused more on questioning Trump's electability and DeSantis has questioned Trump's ability to deliver on his agenda.
He also told the Messenger earlier this month that he has voting thresholds in mind for New Hampshire and Iowa, noting that if he doesn't meet those numbers, he will forfeit.
But he won't say what those numbers are.
'That's for me to know. And believe me, you will see that I respond to it. It's not like you don't know what I'm going to do. In 2016, I didn't reach the number I wanted to reach, and the next day I quit,” Christie said. 'But I don't think that's going to happen. I feel it when I talk to voters now.'