Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pledged again on Tuesday to remain in the 2024 GOP primary race despite low single-digit polling nationally and his continuing to lag far behind the shrinking field’s frontrunner, former President Donald Trump.
Christie made his remarks during an interview with MSNBC.
“I just want to follow up on something you just said a moment ago, you know, certainly you resisting calls to drop off pre-New Hampshire — drop out pre-New Hampshire, you’ve made that case very clear, but you just said that you plan to stay in, you know, through potentially the Trump legal process, which we don’t know when it can occur, but it certainly wouldn’t be before March, April and beyond,” network correspondent John Lemire began.
“So do you see yourself riding this all the way to the convention, even if, you know, you have struggled to attract delegates at that point?” he asked.
Here is Christie’s response, per Grabien:
Well, look, John, I think we’re going to make that evaluation as we go along, but at some point, when this stuff starts to fall apart, the Republican voters are going to need an alternative who has made this — made it very clear that they’re against Donald Trump, and that they predicted this was going to happen all along. And I’ve been saying it ever since I got into the race, unlike anybody else in the race.
And so, you know, this is never going to be easy. When I got into the race, I said, everybody is an underdog. And that’s why this kind of sophistry about who should get out of the race is kind of ridiculous. I mean, in the end, everyone has a long shot in this race, but Donald Trump on the Republican side if you believe the polling.
And so the question is, who’s standing on principle? Who’s going to do what’s right for the party? I view this as a fight for not only the soul of my party but for the soul of our country. And who are we going to be? What kind of government do we want? And — and so why should that fight be determined by polls? I’d rather have people vote.
And look, I’ve won, and I’ve lost. Winning’s better. But, you know, I know when I’m losing, and if I lose, then I’m going to have to reevaluate, you know, all of this. But I haven’t lost anything yet. And the fact is, I’ve qualified for every debate that was a national debate. I’ve qualified for both of the New Hampshire debates that will be coming up in the week between Iowa and New Hampshire.
I’ve done — I’ve met every mark that you needed to make that have been artificially set either by the RNC or by some of the networks. And the only place where I didn’t meet it was a place like Iowa, where I haven’t campaigned, one — one TV commercial, or even shown up. I have not been on terra firma in Iowa, you know, in the year 2023 or 2024, and I don’t expect I will be.
So, every place where I’ve campaigned and worked, we’ve been able to qualify for debates, and I think we’ve made a difference in those debates, and we’re going to continue to work hard.
Any Republican presidential hopefuls who believed they would pick up some momentum in the waning weeks ahead of the first-in-the-nation primaries in Iowa later this month have had those hopes dashed by a brand-new survey that showed Trump surging instead.
“Not only has Trump reached an all-time high at 62% support in the latest national USA Today/Suffolk University Poll released Monday, he has expanded his lead on the GOP primary field to 49 points,” Newsmax reported, citing the survey.
“Notably, as the GOP field of challengers has shrunk, Trump’s lead has grown — an ominous sign for the anti-Trump forces in American politics and incumbent Democrat President Joe Biden, who also trails Trump in the poll,” the report continued.
