Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, is set to join the race for the White House next week, according to US reports.
The 60-year-old will confirm he is entering the battle to become the Republican presidential candidate at a gathering of supporters in New Hampshire on Tuesday, NBC reported, quoting unnamed sources.
It will be his second attempt to become the party’s nominee after he first tried in 2016.
That year he dropped out after finishing sixth in the New Hampshire primary.
He then stunned supporters by endorsing Donald Trump, and eventually led the new president’s transition team and even helped his former rival prepare for debates against Joe Biden in 2020.
But since then, Mr Christie has become a vocal critic of Mr Trump after the then-president refused to concede the 2020 election to Mr Biden and pushed baseless claims of widespread fraud.
At a town hall political meeting in New Hampshire in April, Mr Christie dismissed the former commander in chief as “a TV star, nothing more, nothing less. Let me suggest to you that in putting him back in the White House, the reruns will be worse than the original show”.
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Mr Christie served two terms as governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018.
In the so-called “Bridgegate” scandal in 2013, he was accused of closing lanes at the George Washington Bridge as alleged retaliation against a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse Mr Christie’s re-election.
Even by the standards of presidential elections, the field for the GOP nomination is packed.
Mr Christie joins Mr Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, ex-United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, conservative talk radio host Larry Elder and businessman Perry Johnson, among others in the running.
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Former vice president Mike Pence and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum are expected to join them soon.
But the chances of the party choosing someone other than Mr Trump in 2024 appear remote at the moment, as he has a big lead in the polls and a seemingly iron grip on the supporter base, according to some commentators.
Mr Christie, meanwhile, is currently polling bottom.
