Republican presidential nominee Chris Christie dropped out of the Republican candidacy race hours before a live debate in Iowa, Sky News reported.
His rivals, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, are seeking endorsements to run against the former president in Iowa. Though Christie has withdrawn from the race, he has vowed never to allow Donald Trump to become US president again.
The former New Jersey governor suspended his campaign after claiming he had no chance of winning the nomination, marking the withdrawal of the former president’s loudest and most consistent critic.
“My goal has never been to be just a voice against the hate and division and the selfishness of what our party has become under Donald Trump. I am 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.”
Christie also criticised his rivals Haley and DeSantis throughout the campaign for failing to directly confront Trump for fear of alienating the latter’s loyal supporters.
Haley and DeSantis accused each other of lying during Wednesday’s primary debate in Iowa, where they clashed face-to-face. Haley, a former UN ambassador, directed the audience to a website established by her campaign that chronicled what she said were DeSantis’ lies. The Florida governor, in turn, tried to direct people to his website, where he claimed he had compiled “all the greatest hits” of Haley’s false statements.
Both candidates hoped to perform well ahead of Monday’s caucuses, in which Republican Party members would vote for a specific candidate at the party’s national convention. The nominees are seeking to gain enough support to become the main alternative to Trump, who was absent from the debate.
Trump said at a Fox News town hall meeting in Des Moines he was not concerned that Christie’s withdrawal from the race would boost Haley’s chances for the nomination.
She’s not up for this.
The former president also hinted that he knows who he wants as his vice president. He won the support of 49 per cent of Republicans in a nationwide poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos research company on Wednesday, well ahead of Haley (12 per cent) and DeSantis (11 per cent).
