N.J. Gov. Chris Christie announced Wednesday afternoon he was officially ending his presidential campaign, and said his message that experience and competence matter wasn’t heard by enough people in the race.
“[W]hile running for president I tried to reinforce what I have always believed that — that speaking your mind matters, that experience matters, that competence matters and that it will always matter in leading our nation,” he wrote on Facebook.
“That message was heard by and stood for by a lot of people, but just not enough and that’s OK,” he added. “I have both won elections that I was supposed to lose and I’ve lost elections I was supposed to win and what that means is you never know what will happen. That is both the magic and the mystery of politics.”
Christie added that he will leave the race without “an ounce of regret.”
Christie entered the race last June. His campaign message focused on why a governor was better suited to be president than a lawmaker who he said had no executive leadership experience, or a candidate like Donald Trump, the real estate billionaire who has never held office.
But the governor fared poorly in the New Hampshire GOP primary on Tuesday, and took sixth place with 7 percent of the vote. Ohio Gov. John Kasich placed second and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush took fourth.
Carly Fiorina, who finished one spot behind Christie in New Hampshire, also dropped out Wednesday afternoon.
Christie was ranked seventh in the Washington Examiner’s presidential power rankings.
