Sununu says Christie should quit before the New Hampshire primary

Just weeks before New Hampshire holds its Republican presidential primaries, the state’s governor, Chris Sununu, said Sunday that Chris Christie’s presidential bid was “at an absolute dead end” and suggested he might drop out to clear the way for Mr. Sununu’s preferred candidate. Nikki Haley.

Mr. Sununu, who this month endorsed Ms. Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, told CNN that “the only person who wants Chris Christie to stay in the race is Donald Trump.”

He described the race as a “two-person contest” between Ms. Haley and Mr. Trump, whom she now trails by an average lead of two in New Hampshire. 20 percentage points.

“There is no doubt that if Christie remains in the race, there is a risk that he takes her margin of victory,” Mr. Sununu said on CNN’s State of the Union.

In a campaign advertisement last week, former New Jersey Governor Christie explicitly responded to calls from some in the party for him to resign in order to consolidate support around a non-Trump candidate. “Some people are saying I should get out of this race,” he said. “Really? I’m the only one who says Donald Trump is a liar.”

In response to Mr. Sununu’s comments, a spokesman for Mr. Christie’s campaign doubled down on that message: “The events of the past few days fully confirm the point Christie has been making for six months: that the truth matters, and if You can’t answer the easy questions, you can’t solve the big problems.”

Mr. Sununu’s comments were in response to questions from Dana Bash, the CNN anchor, about Ms. Haley’s recent blunder regarding the Civil War, for which she received significant criticism from Mr. Christie and others.

When she received a question about the cause of the Civil War at a town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Ms. Haley’s response made no mention of slavery. The next day she walked back her comments, telling an interviewer from New Hampshire, “Of course the Civil War was about slavery.” She suggested the demand came from a “Democratic factory.”

Mr. Sununu acknowledged that Ms. Haley had made a mistake in her comments but dismissed them as a “non-issue” and said she “clarified it right away and everyone moved on.”

Mr. Christie and Mrs. Haley maintained a complicated relationship throughout their primary school years. Mr. Christie defended Ms. Haley during the fourth Republican debate after she was attacked by Vivek Ramaswamy, the wealthy entrepreneur running for office. But earlier this month, in the first ad released for his campaign, Mr. Christie lambasted Ms. Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for attacking each other more than Mr. Trump.

Ms. Haley has made progress in New Hampshire in recent weeks, climbing to a solid second place. (Mr. Christie is ranked third in the state). But securing the nomination remains a difficult task: She remained battling for second place with Mr. DeSantis in Iowa and remains trailing Mr. Trump, her former boss, in national polls. about 50 points.

While Ms. Haley was campaigning in Iowa this weekend, an attendee at a town hall in Cedar Falls asked her why she was trailing in the polls in South Carolina, her home state. Ms. Haley said her support there would grow if she performed well in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states on the nomination list. “South Carolinians are the type where they want you to earn it,” she explained.

Her response did not directly address the details — that Mr. Trump is immensely popular in the state and has received support from many top officials, including Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Lindsey Graham.

On Sunday, Mr. Sununu also told CNN of his disapproval of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who removed Mr. Trump from the state’s primary last week. He called the decision “very politically motivated” and said of Ms Bellows: “This is a politician who I think has political ambitions and is trying to make a bit of a name for himself.”

Mr. Sununu said that removing Mr. Trump “would only increase his chances of playing that victim card later.”