Chris Christie is facing growing calls to drop out. Here's why he's staying in the 2024 race

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has for months framed his 2024 presidential bid as a fight to take down Donald Trump. Now, amid growing calls that his campaign could inadvertently help the former president, Christie is doubling down on that message and showing no signs of dropping out soon.

In a new ad, Christie positions the election as a moral choice for voters, asking “Who do we want to be as a country?”

“Donald Trump – he will sell the soul of this country,” Christie said in a stark direct-to-camera address. “I’m not perfect. I’ve made mistakes. But I will always tell you the truth.”

The 30-second spot, dubbed “The Choice,” is the second part of the campaign’s recent seven-figure ad buy in New Hampshire – a state where Christie has staked the majority of his 2024 hopes.

Yet, the former prosecutor is polling third in the state and in recent weeks has faced mounting calls from anti-Trump allies urging him to drop out and throw his support behind a candidate with better electoral chances.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, an outspoken critic of Trump who endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the GOP race, recently described Christie’s campaign as “at an absolute dead end.”

“I know he says he wants to stay in the race to speak the truth about Trump, but that translating to votes in a primary is a very different thing and he’s hit a ceiling,” Sununu said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

A RealClearPolitics average of polls found Christie roughly 15 points behind Haley in the Granite State race and more than 30 points behind Trump. And a Saint Anselm College survey conducted in early December found Christie’s margin of support nearly equal to the gap between Haley and Trump in New Hampshire.

“There’s no doubt that if Christie stays in the race, the risk is that he takes her margin of the win,” Sununu said of the tightening race.

Haley’s chances of getting close to Trump’s lead, or even beating the businessman, in New Hampshire are far from certain. If she does eek out a win in the state, garnering the GOP nomination would be an uphill climb that would require her to overcome Trump’s massive lead in other key contests.

Her chances of electoral success in part hinge on more moderate and even liberal-leaning independent voters who can choose to vote in New Hampshire’s Republican primary. These are largely the same voters Christie is attracting.

Why Chris Christie is not dropping out

Christie has argued that there’s no guarantee his supporters would cast their ballots for Haley if he dropped out. He also has criticized Haley’s tactics for attacking Trump – or rather lack-there-of.

“He’s not Voldemort from the ‘Harry Potter’ books. He’s not ‘he who shall not be named,’” Christie said during a December New Hampshire campaign stop.

The former New Jersey governor criticized opponents for not going after Trump in his latest ad.

"Some people say I should drop out of this race. Really? I’m the only one saying Donald Trump is a liar," Christie said in the ad.

Where Christie has boldly attacked Trump on the campaign trail, Haley has shied away from mentioning the former president, instead choosing to thread the needle and address him obliquely. In her stump speech, Haley often urges voters to consider the “chaos” that follows Trump “rightly or wrongly.”

Until the former ambassador to the United Nations more sharply digs into the former president, however, Christie has said he’s staying put to be the anti-Trump voice in the race.

"He’ll burn America to the ground to help himself," Christie said of Trump. "Every Republican leader says that in private. I’m the only one saying it in public."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chris Christie defies calls to drop out of 2024 race, goes after Trump