Former Gov. Chris Christie won’t mount an independent bid for the presidency against Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the Washington Post reported today.
Christie had been mulling a bid as the No Labels presidential candidate after dropping out of the Republican race just before the New Hampshire primary.
“If there is not a pathway to win and if my candidacy in any way, shape or form would help Donald Trump become president again, then it is not the way forward,” Christie told the Washington Post.
The report said that he had commissioned polls in thirteen states, worked out a campaign budget, and concluded that he could not win the 20 to 25 states he needed to win a three-way race.
The New Jersey Globe has confirmed that Republican National Committeeman Bill Palatucci and his longtime strategist, Michael DuHaime, were part of the team that sought to determine a path to a Christie victory.
Christie’s rejection of support from No Labels comes on the same day the group’s co-chairman, former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, died.
A former two-term governor of New Jersey, Christie ran for president in 2016 but withdrew after a poor showing in the New Hampshire GOP primary. He finished sixth with 7.4% of the vote.
Christie had upside-down favorables of 10%-66% among Republicans in a national Monmouth University poll released last fall.