Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said it’s possible he could run for president in 2024.
“Yeah, listen, why not? I’m 56 years old,” the Republican told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Monday.
“I would not do it if I couldn’t see a pathway to victory. I’m not someone who wants to do it just to go through the exercise. But if I saw a pathway to victory and a way to make a difference, I certainly would consider it,” he said.
Christie ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, ending his bid for the White House after he finished sixth in the New Hampshire primary. Less than a month after bowing out of the race he endorsed then-candidate Donald Trump.
President Trump considered picking Christie as his running mate but Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner were opposed, Christie wrote in his recently released memoir, Let me Finish.
Christie told Hewitt he will not challenge Trump in 2020, but it’s anyone’s game if Vice President Mike Pence decides to run in 2024.
“I think it’s possible to beat anybody, especially when we’re talking about a time that’s so far off. We don’t know what the political climate’s going to be at that time. So you know, I don’t think there’s anybody who should be considered to be a prohibitive favorite back at that point, because we don’t know what the political world is going to look like then,” he said.
Christie served two terms as governor of New Jersey, from 2010-18. Despite winning a resounding re-election bid in 2013, his popularity later plummeted, with less than 20 percent of New Jersey residents approving of his job performance by the time he left office, polls showed.
