Just when you think you’ve heard the last from Chris Christie, the portly former New Jersey governor takes another bite at staying relevant in politics.
Christie, who dropped out of the Republican presidential primary in January, left open the possibility that he could run as a third-party candidate when asked by former Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod.
Keep in mind that when Christie announced that he did not see a path to win the GOP nomination, he added: “I want to promise you this, I’m going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again. And that’s more important than my own personal ambition.”
“One of the parties that is, at least notionally, going to be on the ballot is the No Labels Party,” Axelrod said on his podcast, the Axe Files. “Your name has come up as a potential nominee. Is that something you are considering?”
On a new #AxeFiles, I asked @ChrisChristie if he would consider entreaties from the No Labels Party to run for president under their banner this fall. He didn’t say yes. But, notably, as you can hear below, he didn’t say NO!
Full podhttps://t.co/RQZ7MHq3yM pic.twitter.com/EL8dEpmwat— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) March 21, 2024
The former governor was clear that a third-party run remains a possibility — he would likely pull more votes away from Trump than he would from Biden.
“You know, I think the way I would look at it is, I will do whatever I can to try to make sure that the country doesn’t go through what I think will be the misery of a second Trump term,” Christie said. “But I wouldn’t preclude anything at this point, David. I would just say that there are a number of hurdles to get over before I would actually consider running as a third party.”
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is the honorary chairman of the No Labels Party, which has yet to select a presidential nominee. While he was considering his own run, Hogan surprisingly entered the race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland and now holds a double-digit lead over the Democratic candidate.
That decision left the door open for another candidate to be the No Labels Party nominee.
Interestingly, social media users seem to believe a Christie third-party run would actually help Trump defeat President Biden — here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:
@davidaxelrod Pay him and he’ll dance for you.
This is an excellent strategy if Biden makes it to November.Key is the running mate.
Christie alone will not pull enough votes away after his lame appearance in the blood party primary.
— Jim Roberts (@JaPatRob) March 21, 2024
If he wants to spare the country the misery of second Trump term (which I believe he does) than he’ll conclude that running as a third party candidate would only ensure a second Trump term.
— Jay (@jaymichael19811) March 21, 2024
Chris Christie’s ego is a hundred times bigger than his quite sizable body. Media should only pay attention to him if he’s going to be helpful in defeating Trump. Christie being a third-party nominee will only help elect Trump.
— Mad Momma (@MommaSpeaks) March 21, 2024
Christie needs to promote Biden. We’re at an inflection point. No Labels has zero chance of winning so don’t waste money and time. Trump must be defeated hugely.
— Linda Phillip Cost (@LPhillips2023) March 21, 2024
If Chris Christie runs on a no labels party spoiler, he will be helping elect Trump.
He wouldn’t win.
He wouldn’t have any influence.
He would only be eroding moderate Republican votes away from Biden.
But he knows that. pic.twitter.com/gLc6RE4gyM
— ACT2 (@All4ACT2) March 21, 2024
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