Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is in Maine today to campaign for Republican gubernatorial nominee Bobby Charles, one day after acknowledging that he is considering a third bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2028.
Christie will join Charles for a public town hall tonight in Lewiston.
Charles, a lawyer and former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State, is the Republican nominee for governor this year.
Public polls show Democrat Hannah Pingree, the former state house speaker, with a double-digit lead over Charles.
“The fact that the only surrogate Bobby Charles has is disgraced governor Chris Christie tells you everything you need to know about how poorly his campaign is going,” said Kevin Donohue, a spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association.
The Maine appearance comes a day after Christie was in New Hampshire, where the former two-term governor said he is considering another White House campaign but wants to see what happens in this year’s midterm elections before deciding whether to run in 2028.
“Anybody who comes up here and has ever run for president and not won and told you they’re not looking at it again is lying,” Christie said Tuesday. “Let me just promise you they are lying.”
Christie ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and 2024. He dropped out of the 2016 contest following a sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary and endorsed Donald Trump shortly afterward.
Maine also has a connection to Christie’s first presidential campaign.
Then-Maine Gov. Paul LePage endorsed Christie in July 2015, becoming one of the first Republican governors to back him for president. Christie had previously traveled to Maine as chairman of the Republican Governors Association to campaign for LePage during his successful 2014 re-election bid.
After Christie ended his presidential campaign, LePage endorsed Trump.
LePage is back on the ballot himself this year, running as the Republican candidate for Maine’s open 2nd Congressional District seat.
Christie’s appearances in New Hampshire and Maine put him back on the campaign trail as he publicly weighs whether to run for president a third time.
“If I’m going to go back home to my wife and say, ‘I know you may not believe this, but third time is the charm,’ like, I better have a real theory,” Christie said Tuesday.