Chris Christie’s exit from GOP race lifts Nikki Haley’s White House chances

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie‘s surprise presidential campaign suspension on Wednesday was a much-needed boon to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley‘s campaign as she battles Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for second place in the primary.

Christie’s exit comes just five days before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses and 13 days before the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary, where he and Haley had been battling for second place. But his exit gives Haley the opportunity to coalesce more voters who are put off by former President Donald Trump.

Whereas DeSantis has staked his campaign on performing well during the Iowa caucuses, Haley has campaigned hard in New Hampshire in a bid to thwart the former president from securing the GOP nomination.

Still, in recent polling, Trump has dominated his rivals, with a RealClearPolitics survey of Granite State polls showing Trump at 43%, Haley at 29.3%, and Christie at 12%. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is polling at a distant 6.3%, as is biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 5%.

Christie did not endorse Haley in his speech ending his campaign and sometimes directly criticized her aversion to attacking Trump as she seeks the White House. He did, however, make it unequivocally clear he remains against another Trump-led White House.

“I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again,” Christie said before the audience erupted in cheers and applause.

And as a vocal anti-Trump critic, his supporters will likely back Haley as she takes on Trump during the New Hampshire primary, one pollster said.

“Nikki Haley is poised to win the clear majority of Christie voters, who have told pollsters that she is their 2nd choice. We could have a genuinely competitive race in NH,” Logan Phillips, a polling analyst and head of RacetotheWH, posted on X, formerly Twitter.

A CNN poll released on Tuesday found that among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire whose first choice is neither Haley nor Trump, 36% said Haley was their second choice for the nomination, while only 30% picked Trump as their second choice. The poll also found that 65% of Christie voters would back Haley if he weren’t in the race.

Trump campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles sent out a memo late Wednesday evening rejecting the idea that Christie’s withdrawal would help Haley during the New Hampshire primary due to his high unfavorable ratings.

“If his withdrawal was meant to help Nikki Haley, it will further polarize the primary to be a battle between the Trump conservatives and Haley’s DC establishment base,” the pair wrote.

However, other Republican leaders also suggested Haley would see more support with Christie out of the field. Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), who endorsed Haley late last year, had been pressuring Christie to drop out for weeks, signaling his belief that Christie’s supporters would most likely move to her.

“Chris ran a hard-fought campaign and is coming to this decision at a critical time. Defeating Donald Trump requires a consolidated field, and Nikki Haley has the momentum to do so,” Sununu said in a statement Wednesday evening.

Heath Mayo, a conservative lawyer who founded the anti-Trump Principles First group, praised Christie but offered a word of warning. “We should oppose Trump at every turn & it’s worth voting Nikki in the primary for the chance,” he posted on X. “But she won’t win by playing coy. Lead!”

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), who backed Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-SC) failed presidential bid, claimed Christie was resigned to the inevitable campaign suspension.

“You know, I think that was gonna happen,” Thune said in a press gaggle Wednesday evening. “And you know, clearly he’s reading the tea leaves and he was kind of putting all his eggs in the New Hampshire basket. But, you know, certainly, I would think that helps Haley and or DeSantis, some of the other candidates.”

Christie, however, unintentionally unleashed his real thoughts on Haley’s campaign before his Wednesday announcement.

In a hot mic moment, it appeared that Christie doubted Haley could win. “She’s gonna get smoked. You and I both know it. She’s not up to this,” Christie said.

DeSantis, Christie claimed, called him “petrified.”

The Florida governor did not comment on Christie’s claims, but he did weigh in on the comments about Haley. “I agree with Christie that Nikki Haley is ‘going to get smoked,’” he posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

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Haley also did not address the hot mic comments on Wednesday. “Chris Christie has been a friend for many years. I commend him on a hard-fought campaign,” Haley said in a statement. “Voters have a clear choice in this election: the chaos and drama of the past or a new generation of conservative leadership. I will fight to earn every vote, so together we can build a strong and proud America.”

Christie’s campaign suspension came mere hours before Haley and DeSantis were set to face off during CNN’s primary debate. Trump is holding a competing Fox News town hall.

Emily Jacobs contributed to this report.