Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans to announce a 2024 presidential bid in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
Mr. Christie, a Republican who ran for president in 2016, will announce his run at a town hall event at St. Anselm College at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Axios first reported the news.
For weeks, Mr. Christie has signaled he wants to be an attack dog against former President Donald Trump. He says someone needs to take Mr. Trump head-on.
Mr. Christie flashed his debate chops in the 2016 primary, hitting Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida with memorable attacks.
“You better have somebody on that stage who can do to him what I did to Marco, because that’s the only thing that’s gonna defeat Donald Trump,” Mr. Christie said this year at Saint Anselm College. “And that means you have to be fearless, because he will come back, and right at you.”
Axios said the Christie campaign will offer some optimism to the “exhausted majority” in America and be “a non-traditional campaign that is highly focused on earned media, mixing it up in the news cycle and engaging Trump.”
Earlier this week, Christie supporters launched a super PAC named Tell It Like It Is. It will be led by Brian Jones, who worked on the presidential campaigns of Sens. John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 bid; and Bill Palatucci, a longtime adviser to Mr. Christie and a Republican National Committee member.
The former governor will face an uphill battle. Mr. Trump dominates early primary polling, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the rest of the candidates tend to attract single-digit support.
Mr. Christie, 60, served as New Jersey’s governor from 2010 to 2018. He gave Mr. Trump a key endorsement after dropping out of the race in 2016 and helped Mr. Trump’s transition team, but the pair have fallen out since then.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of only two Republicans picked by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi to sit on the Jan. 6 select committee, said Mr. Christie’s anti-Trump stance comes too late.
“While I appreciate Christie’s newfound outrage, it’s important to remember he took down Rubio for Trump then dutifully endorsed him with googly eyes,” he wrote on Twitter.
Anthony Scaramucci, the hedge fund adviser who served as Mr. Trump’s communications director for less than two weeks, has said he plans to support Mr. Christie’s bid.
Maria Comella, an adviser who served as chief of staff to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Mike DuHaime, Mr. Christie’s chief political strategist in 2016, are expected to run the campaign, according to The New York Times.
• Seth McLaughlin contributed to this report.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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