2024 GOP presidential primary candidate Chris Christie slammed calls for voters to consolidate their support behind either his campaign or fellow candidate Nikki Haley’s.
“This idea of people just doing math and adding up numbers, that’s not the way voters vote,” Christie said in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And, so, I would say to everybody out there: Let’s let the campaign move forward.”
Asked whether he expects to be in the race through the New Hampshire primary, Christie said he expects to remain in the primary through the convention.
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“I think Governor Haley and I both have the same goal, and that is to be president of the United States. And I think we’re showing great momentum in New Hampshire. We have been gaining over the last couple of weeks. I think we’re going to continue to gain in that — in that fight,” he said. “And I think we’re going to do very, very well in New Hampshire on January 23.”
Christie and Haley have emerged as two candidates with overlapping platforms — both are staunch supporters of Ukraine and Israel, and both are seen as more serious candidates with governing experience. While Christie has been more critical of former President Trump — the distant GOP front-runner in the race — Haley’s platform is more similar to his than to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s platform, which embraces a more expansionist view of executive power.
Christie pointed out, however, that concern that the GOP field is still too wide open is not one rooted in historical precedent.
“This is the smallest Republican field at this stage in this century that did not include an incumbent, the smallest. It was 13 eight years ago at this stage. I was in that race. Before that, in 2011, there were eight people in the race at this stage. And, in 2007, there were nine,” he said.
“This race has consolidated very nicely. You really now, in my view, have four major contenders for the nomination: Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, me and Nikki Haley. And the fact is that we’re the major contenders for the nomination. And everyone else who’s still hanging around the fringe of the race is not a serious contender,” he said.