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Chris Christie im November 2022 in Las Vegas
Photo: WADE VANDERVORT / AFP
The former governor of the US state of New Jersey, Chris Christie, wants to run in the 2024 presidential election. The former supporter of ex-President Donald Trump, who has become a sharp critic, submitted the necessary documents for a candidacy to the US Federal Election Commission on Tuesday, as seen on the authority's website. It was expected that the 60-year-old Republican would announce his candidacy in the evening (local time) at an event in the state of New Hampshire.
Thus, the field of candidates for the Republican primaries for the presidential candidacy continues to grow. On Wednesday, former Vice President Mike Pence is expected to announce his candidacy in the state of Iowa, he had submitted his election documents on Monday. The clearly favored Trump had already declared in November that he wanted to recapture the White House in the 2024 presidential election.
At best, underdog chances
Chris Christie has at best outsider chances, in the survey average of the website RealClearPolitics.com he came recently to only one percent. The former governor of the state of New Jersey, which borders New York (2010 to 2018), had already applied for the Republican nomination in the 2016 primaries. However, he dropped out of the race early and then became the first prominent supporter from the party establishment to stand behind the eventual primary winner Trump.
He made Christie the head of a transition team that was to prepare for the change of power in the event of an election victory against Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November 2016 election. After the surprising victory against Clinton, Trump replaced Christie with his Vice President-elect Pence. The governor was also considered as a possible attorney general, but ultimately did not get a post in the Trump administration.
Burdened by »Bridgegate«
Christie's time as governor is burdened by a scandal over the closure of a bridge with which he allegedly wanted to punish a mayor who was an enemy of his. The 2013 case became known as "Bridgegate". However, an investigation later found no evidence that Christie had ordered the partial closure of the bridge.
In recent years, Christie has increasingly appeared as a Trump critic. Just recently, he described the ex-president as a "coward" and "puppet" of Russian President Vladimir Putin because of his stance on the Ukraine war. Of the Trump challengers, the 60-year-old has so far shown himself to be the most aggressive.
The Republican primaries will begin at the beginning of next year, starting traditionally in the state of Iowa in the Midwest. The winner of the Republican primaries will challenge incumbent Joe Biden of the Democratic Party, who is running for a second term.
Trump is likely to be quite happy with more candidates in the primaries, he clearly leads polls on the Republican field of candidates. According to the poll average of RealClearPolitics.com, the 76-year-old right-wing populist comes to around 53 percent, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with 22 percent, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley with 4.4 percent and Pence with 3.8 percent. Other candidates include Senator Tim Scott, former Governor of the southern state of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, and pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
ktz/AFP