Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey who lost to Donald J. Trump in the 2016 presidential primary, declared that he will run for the Republican nomination in 2024. This decision set up a rematch with the outgoing president and widens the pool of G.O.P. contenders.
Christie took aim at the former president through his remarks, calling him “a bitter, angry man who wants power back for himself.”
The former New Jersey governor framed his decision to run for president a second time on his belief that the country is at a pivotal moment of having to choose between “big and small.”
Christie made the case that in recent years the country has been helmed by people who have “led us to being small — small by their example, small by the way they conduct themselves, small by the things they tells us we should care about … They’re making us smaller by dividing us into smaller and smaller groups.”
“All throughout our history, there have been moments where we’ve had to choose between big and small,” he said. “I will tell you, the reason I’m here tonight is because this is one of those moments.”
Christie officially declared his candidature and completed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission in New Hampshire.
Also Read: Melania Trump trolled for selling NFT via Independence Day tweet: ‘There’s a time and a place’
The 2016 presidential candidate, a former governor, sees himself as a challenger to and opponent to Donald Trump, the current front-runner in the polls. The only contender in the race to date who is prepared to openly criticize Trump on a daily basis is Christie, a former ally of the president.
Christie said other Republican candidates are treating Trump like the Harry Potter villain Voldemort, tip-toeing around criticizing him by name.
“Let me be clear, in case I have not been already,” Christie said after bashing Trump. “The person I am talking about — who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a fault and who always finds someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong, but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right — is Donald Trump.”
He added later: “There is one lane for the Republican nomination and he’s in front of it. And if you want to win, you better go right through him. Because let me guarantee you something from knowing him for 22 years, he’s going to try and go through me. He’s going to try and go through Ron [DeSantis] and Nikki [Haley] and Tim [Scott], and everybody else who stands in his way.”
He said Trump made the country “smaller by dividing us even further and pitting one group against another.” He also accused former President Barack Obama and President Biden of dividing Americans.
