Chris Christie plans to enter the 2024 Republican presidential primary next week in New Hampshire — and his campaign will focus on attacking his former ally and current GOP frontrunner in the race, former President Donald Trump.
The former New Jersey governor will announce his campaign Tuesday at Saint Anselm College in a town hall event, according to Christie advisers who spoke with Axios.
His campaign messaging will be focused on speaking to the nation’s “exhausted majority” and running “a non-traditional campaign that is highly focused on earned media, mixing it up in the news cycle and engaging Trump,” the advisers told the outlet.
The campaign will reportedly be run by Maria Comella, a former adviser to ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Christie strategist Mike DuHaime.
Tell It Like It Is, a super PAC backing his candidacy, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission yesterday for the candidate to mount his second presidential run, following his first attempt in 2016.
Christie, 60, endorsed the former president that year after having come in sixth place in the New Hampshire GOP primary, but later broke with Trump over his stolen-election claims in 2020.
The two-term governor has already launched attacks on the 76-year-old ex-president, calling him a “puppet of Putin” for not backing Ukraine in its war against Russia and saying Trump is “afraid” to “get on the stage against people who are serious” for the Republican primary debates.
He has also attacked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his legal squabbles with Disney, calling the 44-year-old presidential hopeful “not conservative” for having tangled with the entertainment company.
Bill Palatucci, a longtime Christie adviser and member of the Republican National Committee, and Brian Jones, a 2012 Mitt Romney campaign aide and 2008 John McCain campaign adviser, are heading his super PAC.
Fellow Christie adviser Russ Schriefer and data expert Brent Seaborn will also be involved.
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is reportedly preparing to finance the campaign after having been one of Christie’s most loyal donors in 2016.
Ex-Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci will also support Christie’s campaign.
Christie will join other declared GOP candidates Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations under Trump; Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC); former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson; businessman Vivek Ramaswamy; radio host Larry Elder; and businessmen Perry Johnson and Ryan Binkley.
Former Vice President Mike Pence and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu are also expected to launch campaigns in the coming weeks.
Trump is currently leading the Republican primary field with 53.2% support, followed by DeSantis with 22.4%, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Christie, who is polling at 1%, has said a Trump nomination would be “bad for the Republican Party” and let President Biden triumph in the 2024 election.
His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
