Chris Christie Files Paperwork to Run for President

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie looks on prior to a game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 4, 2022. Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has filed papers to run for president in 2024, throwing his hat into an already-crowded ring of contenders.

Christie filed his papers with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) on June 6. Christie, who served two terms as the governor of New Jersey, has been out of political office since the end of his second term in 2018.

Like former Vice President Mike Pence, Christie has indicated he'll run a campaign calling for a return to the traditional—pre-Donald Trump—Republican Party.

Christie has been far more critical of Trump, an erstwhile ally, than Pence, calling Trump a “coward” and a “puppet of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) introduces Donald Trump during a rally in Vienna Center, Ohio, on March 14, 2016. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Like other announced candidates, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and Pence, Christie will need to wrest away a broad cross-section of voters from Trump—currently the clear frontrunner—if he hopes to secure the nomination.

Christie, who won a tough battle in blue-leaning New Jersey, suggests he’s the only one of Trump’s announced rivals who can achieve this goal.

“In American politics, if you want to beat somebody, you’ve got to go get them, and you got to make the case,” Christie said in April. “So what I’m saying tonight, I think, is the beginning of the case against Donald Trump. And that’s the first task for Republican primary voters—decide who we’re going to nominate.”

Christie blasted Trump as being defined by “policy and character failure” and said that “we [Republicans] are going to get what we deserve” if Trump is nominated.

This is not Christie’s first bid for the White House—nor is it his first time to warn that Trump poses an existential threat.

In 2016, Christie mounted an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the GOP nomination. He previously decided to remain out of the 2012 primary, when it was speculated that he might run. Christie ultimately endorsed Mitt Romney for the nomination a few days after announcing his decision not to run.

It’s unclear what issues Christie plans to run on as he prepares for a battle in a vastly different political environment than he encountered eight years ago.

In the past, Christie has won the backing of wealthy conservative mega-donors like the Koch brothers, and has pushed for limiting taxes and cutting regulations. It’s uncertain what kind of backing the candidate can hope for in 2024.

Christie has argued in favor of extensive post-9/11 surveillance tools, clashing with libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) over the issue during 2016 primary debates.

Christie characterized extensive powers like those contained in the PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as important mechanisms for protecting national security, citing his personal experience dealing with the 9/11 attacks to defend the position.

Since then, Republican voters have become increasingly skeptical of government surveillance programs in light of revelations that the FBI has persistently been caught  in FISA abuses and spied on American citizens. As Republicans ramp up an investigation into a flurry of violations by federal law enforcement, Christie’s position on government surveillance could be even more unpopular with Republican voters than it was during his last presidential bid.

During his time as governor, Christie also pushed for educational reforms, endorsing programs like school-choice vouchers.

Christie’s past positions on immigration, a key issue for many Republican voters, could raise problems for the presidential hopeful.

While emphasizing the need for a secure border, Christie has said in the past that “being in this country without proper documentation is not a crime,” instead calling it a civil issue. He’s also been critical of a subsection in U.S. Code that allows local law enforcement to perform some immigration enforcement roles.

More recently, Christie has sought to characterize Trump’s immigration policy as a failure.

“Fact: He promised to build a big beautiful wall on the border. Fact: He did not deliver & immigrants are pouring over the border,” Christie said in a tweet following Trump’s CNN town hall in May. “Fact: He said Mexico would pay for it. Fact: We have not gotten one peso yet.

“He failed us on immigration,” Christie said.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a Republican, addresses a gathering in Tempe, Ariz., on July 28, 2022, in support of his endorsement of Karin Taylor Robson (L) as Arizona governor in the primary on Aug. 2, 2022. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

Christie has also expressed contrary positions on abortion.

Early in his political career, he described himself as “a kind of a non-thinking pro-choice person, kind of the default position.”

While running for New Jersey governor in 2009, Christie amended that position, calling himself anti-abortion but vowing not to use the governorship to “force that down people’s throats.”

He later described himself as New Jersey’s first “pro-life governor” and called for a 20-week abortion ban.

Those views could cause problems for Christie with the socially conservative wing of the GOP, a faction that Pence hopes to court away from Trump.