- Chris Christie predicts less than a dozen Republicans will run for president in 2024.
- He billed Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton as top contenders.
- Christie says the decision comes down to appeasing one man or supporting the entire country.
One-time Trump ally and possible 2024 presidential contender Chris Christie says the top of the next GOP ticket will probably feature Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Ted Cruz, or maybe a half dozen others to see who'll guide the party into the future.
"My guess is it'll be somewhere between six and eight. And I think that you'll see people talking about whether the future of the Republican Party is as the party of me or the party of us," the former New Jersey governor told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday.
Christie also tossed Trump-appointed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas into the potential mix with the embattled former president, Trump's now-combative, two-time former running mate, and the Texas Republican Trump trounced during the 2016 presidential contest.
Other possible aspirants Christie apparently discounted include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, and former South Carolina governor and Trump-appointed United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley. Christie also left himself off the list, even though he ran in 2016 and has recently made the rounds with other GOP leaders trying to wrest back control of the party from Trump.
Trump keeps hinting that he'll run again but has yet to make a formal announcement. That's left the door open for others to float their own agendas — like Rick Scott's provocative "Rescue America" plan and Pence's sweeping "Freedom" platform — while Trump continuously fumes about his loss to Joe Biden.
Christie laid out the binary choice facing GOP voters while stumping for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in May, warning MAGAworld that Trump's "party of me" mentality isn't a winning formula. "We have to be the party of tomorrow, not the party of yesterday," Christie said. Pence chimed in by stressing that "elections are about the future" during a pre-primary rally for Kemp in Georgia.
Kemp faced a primary challenge from former Republican Sen. David Perdue, whom Trump dragged out of retirement to punish Kemp for not backing his baseless 2020 election fraud claims. Kemp beat Perdue by nearly 50 points.
