A multi-time failed Republican candidate and avid Trump hater is openly considering another run for president, potentially setting up his third attempt at winning the Republican nomination.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie raised the possibility Tuesday while visiting New Hampshire for the Granite State Summit on Responsible Gaming at Southern New Hampshire University. The trip marked his first visit to the state since ending his 2024 presidential campaign.
Asked whether he was considering 2028, Christie did not exactly pretend the thought had never crossed his mind.
“Anybody who comes up here and has ever run for president and not won and told you they’re not looking at it again is lying,” Christie said.
He explained that once someone has seriously considered becoming president, the idea does not simply disappear.
“Once you go through the thought process of convincing yourself that you can be president, and then the next step that you should be president, that doesn’t leave your brain,” Christie said.
Christie, 64, previously sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and 2024. His second campaign ended in January 2024, before either the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primary, when Christie acknowledged that he no longer saw a viable path to winning the nomination.
That history apparently explains why Christie says another campaign would require more than personal ambition.
“If I’m going to go back home to my wife and say, ‘I know you may not believe this, but third time is the charm,’ like, I better have a real theory,” Christie said. He added that his wife, Mary Pat, has told him, “Chris, I want to see the path.”
Christie says the 2026 midterm elections will help determine whether such a path exists.
“If we do a lot of losing six weeks from today, I wonder whether we’re going to say, ‘OK, we need to change this approach,’” Christie said, referring to the Republican Party. His comments described his own view of what poor Republican results might mean rather than a prediction of how the November elections will turn out.
Christie has undergone a major political transformation regarding President Trump. After ending his 2016 campaign, Christie endorsed Trump and became an adviser and transition-team figure. He later broke with President Trump and made opposition to him a defining element of his 2024 presidential campaign.
For now, however, Christie is considering rather than campaigning.
He suggested that prospective 2028 candidates are likely to wait until after the midterms before making serious decisions and said he believes there would be plenty of time to decide sometime in 2027.
New Hampshire nevertheless remains firmly on his radar.
“I love the state,” Christie said Tuesday. “I love the people here. And if I decide to run, this will be a place where I will spend a lot of time.”
After two unsuccessful presidential campaigns, Christie is making no promises about a third.
He is making equally clear that he has not closed the door.
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