Chris Christie officially joined the race for the GOP White House nomination Tuesday—giving frontrunner Donald Trump a rival more outspoken than most. The former New Jersey governor, as expected, filed paperwork for his candidacy Tuesday and he plans to formally announce the bid at a town hall-style event in New Hampshire Tuesday evening, the New York Times reports. Christie, who dropped out of the 2016 race and endorsed Trump soon after a disappointing sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, broke with the former president over his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged and has become one of Trump's most vocal Republican critics.
While rivals including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have largely steered clear of directly attacking Trump, Christie has called him a loser, slammed him for failing to deliver on his promises as president, and accused him of inciting the Capitol riot, the Times reports. Christie sees himself as the candidate best positioned to take on Trump in the GOP primaries and appeal to independent voters in a general election against President Biden, CNN reports.
"I’m not dumb. The way to win is to beat the guy who’s ahead," he said in a recent podcast interview, per the AP. "And so what would a campaign look like? A campaign would look like a direct frontal challenge to Donald Trump trying to return to the presidency." Another anti-Trump Republican, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, said Monday that he has decided not to run. (More Chris Christie stories.)
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