Who Gains From Chris Christie Dropping Out of the Race?

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination. How will this change the race?

Christie’s “Redemption”: A writer for the Washington Post (Lean Left) determined Christie’s frequent attacks on frontrunner Donald Trump aimed to redeem him from his “grave miscalculation” of endorsing Trump in 2016. The writer stated, “Lashing himself to Trump changed the story arc of Christie’s once-promising career, and he’s been dead set on changing it back.” The writer concluded, “Perhaps this last campaign brought Christie some small measure of redemption. Perhaps that’s all the redemption he deserves.”

Haley Boost: An analysis in 538 (Center bias) determined that Christie suspended his campaign to avoid “playing spoiler to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley,” who has a higher favorability rating among anti-Trump Republicans. In New Hampshire specifically, where an outsized portion of the electorate is made up of independent voters, Christie’s withdrawal from the race is likely to funnel support toward Haley’s nomination. According to 528’s data, just over half of Christie’s supporters in New Hampshire list Haley as their second choice.

“Honorable Decision”: The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board (Lean Right bias) said Christie made the “honorable decision” to suspend his campaign before the voting started and risk fracturing the anti-Trump vote. The board determined the most important part of Christie’s campaign was its aim to “tell Republicans an often unwelcome truth, which is that they would be making a grave mistake to nominate Donald Trump for a second term.”