Christie supporters consider who to back now with former New Jersey governor out of the race

Windham, New Hampshire CNN —

Some New Hampshire voters have an unexpected decision to make with less than two weeks to go until the first-in-the-nation primary: who to cast their ballots for on January 23 now that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has dropped out of the race.

It came as a shock to many of his loyal supporters, who had been urged to attend the event here where Christie, standing in front of an American flag backdrop inside a wedding venue, announced the ending of his campaign

“I can see it from some of the faces here that I’m disappointing some people by doing this, people who believe in our message and believe in what we’ve been doing,” he said.

One of those people was Tom Barton, who had made up his mind months ago that he would support the former New Jersey governor and said he was “very saddened” by the news.

“He said himself that he wasn’t going anywhere,” he said, explaining that he had thought it was possible Christie could drop out after the New Hampshire primary, depending on the outcome.

“If he did poorly in New Hampshire, I would have understood that. I didn’t quite understand that he did it this soon,” he continued.

Assessing his options, Barton says former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is another candidate he could see himself getting behind on January 23 “if she would stand up to Trump more.”

“I’ve gotta see her mentioning him by name,” he said of Haley, who has carefully balanced how she handles criticizing her one-time boss on the campaign trail, a topic that drew Christie’s ire.

Chris Christie speaks in McLean, Virginia, in 2015. The former New Jersey governor has suspended his presidential campaign. Christie, right, stands with his brother, Todd, in this old photo