By Nathan Layne
(Reuters) -Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will end his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday, according to a person briefed on his plans, after failing to garner support for a campaign centered on his criticism of the policies and character of frontrunner Donald Trump.
Christie did not discuss his decision with former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, another Republican rival, the person told Reuters.
Christie had the support of just 2% of Republicans in a nationwide Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday — the same level of support as former Representative Liz Cheney, who never declared herself a candidate.
Despite low poll numbers, the former governor said last week he would resist pressure to leave the race.
“Anybody thinks I’m getting out of this race, they’re crazy,” he said in a Jan. 3 interview with MSNBC.
Christie, a former Trump ally turned critic who sought to position himself as the only Republican contender willing to go toe-to-toe with the pugnacious former president, had been seen as a longshot for the party’s nomination.
Since launching his bid in June, Christie has been a staple on cable news shows offering withering critiques of Trump, calling him unfit for office and arguing that he was morally responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack the U.S. Capitol.
While the broadsides earned Christie a sliver of support among Republicans wanting to move in a new direction, Trump’s tight grip on the party’s most active members meant Christie never rose above low single digits in national polls.
His departure eliminates the most vocal Trump antagonist from the race, although Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has grown increasingly critical of Trump in recent months.
Christie, 61, has repeatedly predicted that Trump would likely lose in the general election to Democratic President Joe Biden, given the four criminal cases hanging over the former president’s candidacy.
Christie ran for president in 2016 but ended his bid after a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary and became the first major party figure to back Trump. He helped run Trump’s debate preparations in 2020 but disavowed the former president following his false claims that he won the 2020 election.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin, Alistair Bell and Doina Chiacu)
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