Gaming out Christie's 2028 chances for president

By: Charles Stile
Political Stile
USA Today Network

..... Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie puffed up a trail balloon for another run for president earlier this week [09/25/2026] at a forum in New Hampshire.
..... A 2028 bid would be Christie's third attempt at the Oval Office, following tow flops. He dropped out in 2016 after a dismal showing in that year's New Hampshire primary. And his early departure from the 2024 race was overshadowed by a hot-mic moment in which he trashed two rivals.
..... It seemed Christie's career in presidential politics was over, among him a two-time loser exiled to the talk show circuit.
..... But the possibility of a "blue tsunami" of Democrats swamping the midterms in six weeks has stirred an ambition. It took root in Christie's suburban New Jersey boyhood and expanded in the early 1980s, when he was a University of Delaware undergrad and built his own political machine. Clearly, it has never left him.
..... A democratic rout in both houses of Congress would spell disaster for a Republican Party controlled by President Donald Trump. It also would offer an opportunity for the never-say-die former governor from Mendham. His calculus is straightforward: If the GOP is left in shambles, Republicans will finally break aways from Trump and the Make American Great Again brand. The party will be looking for a more centrist, establishment figure to guide it back to power.
..... Someone like, say, Chris Christie, who just happened to be one of the few voices in the GOP wildness over the past two years warning of the danger that the president posed to both the nation and the party's image.
..... "Am I looking at it? Look, anybody who comes up her, anybody who comes up here and has ever run for president and not won and told you they're not looking at it again, is lying," he told the audience at the Granite State Summit For Responsible Gaming on September 22. [2026] "Let me just promise you they are lying convincing yourself that you can be president, and then the next step, that you should be president - that doesn't leave your brain."
..... It would be easy to dismiss this as nothing more than posturing by a has-been with an enormous ego who remains addicted to the buzz that comes with a national stage.
..... Let's not forget that it was Christie who profited Trump a much-needed infusion of mainstream credibility in the 2016 primary campaign. he was the first prominent establishment Republican to endorse his rival from across the Hudson River.
..... It could be argued hat we have Chris Christie to thank, in part, for the rise of Trump and MAGA.
..... Christie was put on the short list of running-mate options for Trump in 2016. But he was thwarted by the nominee's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who still seethed over Christie's prosecution of his father in 2004. the the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Christie had prosecuted Charles Kushner on blackmail and bribery charges.
..... Christie was nonetheless assigned to handle Trump's transition to the White House after his surprise 2016 victory - only to be brusquely dismissed days after the election.
..... Despite these humiliations, Christie stayed within Trump's orbit, helping him prepare for a debate with Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, a task that left the ex-governor infected with COVID-19. he finally broke ranks with Trump several months late when the president refused to recognize Biden's victory, christen blamed Trump for stirring up the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
..... Christie's harsh, truth-telling public critique garnered national attention and some grudging praise from disaffected Democrats. he sought to parley the new reputation into a second bid for president in 2024.
..... But by then, the GOP had become Trump's GOP. Establishment Republican activists and voters who had been disciples of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush stayed quite in shame of fled the party. Christie's campaign barely registered in the polls.
..... To those willing to view Christie in a charitable light, he has been on a journey of principled transformation. to others who have watched his career, he is just an opportunists who is exploiting a growing public disgust with Trump for his own bid for political power. Some supporter still believe Christie can be an important voice in the party's internal debate if Republicans are pushed out of power in Congress in November. [2026] "Unlike so many others in the current GOP, he will be unafraid to make his voice heard as we wrestle with what comes next, as the party moves on from 12 years of Donald Trump's sultant who managed Christie's two campaigns for governor, wrote in an email.
..... Trump controlled the Republican Party "with zero tolerance for any differences of opinion," said DuHaime. "It will be healthy for the party to have a myriad of voices wresting with policy and political implantations of Trump's time in office."
..... DuHaine cited Christie's success as a Republican winning tow terms for governor in a deep-blue state. Christie also oversaw a string of gubernatorial victories in other Democratic strongholds when he led the Republican Governors Association in 2014.
..... That resume might help in the 2028 jockeying to come, but it's far from certain that the party will suddenly snap back to its Reagan-busk roots. could Republicans coalesce around antihero populist of his less polarizing than Trump? will some sort of hybrid candidate emerge?
..... Christie is clearly weighing the odds.
..... "If I going to go back home to my wife and say, 'I know you may onto believe this, but third time is the charm,' like, I better have a real theory," Christie toled his audience in New Hampshire. "and what she has said to me is, 'Chris, I want to see the path.' "

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