Allies of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have launched a super PAC to support a potential 2024 presidential bid from him.
The new super PAC, Tell It Like It Is, is being steered by Brian Jones, a senior advisor to the 2008 and 2012 Republican presidential nominees, the late John McCain and Mitt Romney, both of whom severely criticised President Trump.
Jones claimed that Christie, who attempted to run for president against Trump in 2016, but failed early and spectacularly when he placed sixth in the New Hampshire primary, was “willing to confront the hard truths that currently threaten the future of the Republican Party.”
“Now more than ever we need leaders that have the courage to say not what we want to hear but what we need to hear,” Jones continued. Early this month, Christie claimed that he would make a decision as to whether he would eventually enter the now-crowded Republican primary race in two weeks, but has still yet to confirm his position.
“I know what I’m good at. I know how to articulate an argument. I know how to make it. I know how to land it. And I feel like I have the ideas that people are genuinely attracted to,” Christie told Fox News in April. “So if you have those things, you have a good chance to be able to do it. No guarantees, but a good chance.”
Despite being one of the first 2016 candidates to endorse Trump, Christie fell out with the 45th President over his stances on the integrity of the 2020 election, and has since become a vocal critic of the former President within the Republican Party.
If the super PAC formation is an indication that Christie will enter the 2024 race, he will likely face an uphill battle. In a CNN poll just last week, 60% of Republican primary voters said that they would never support him, the worst numbers in the entire primary race, including other undeclared candidates like Mike Pence and Chris Sununu.
CNN POLL: 2024 GOP Primary
Trump:
53% – currently supporting
31% – would consider supporting
.
DeSantis:
26% – currently supporting
59% – would consider supporting
.
Would NEVER support:
DeSantis: 15%
Trump: 16%
Haley: 36%
T. Scott: 37%
Pence: 45%
Sununu: 55%
Christie: 60% pic.twitter.com/pAChleQmKz— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) May 25, 2023
