Christie will announce at New Hampshire town hall that he’s ending presidential bid, AP source says

WINDHAM, N.H. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is planning to announce he’s dropping his Republican presidential bid at his New Hampshire town hall on Wednesday night.

That’s according to a person with direct knowledge of the former New Jersey governor’s plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions.

Christie, 61, has been under intense pressure to exit the Republican presidential primary race as critics of Donald Trump work to unify behind a viable alternative to the former president.

Christie is scheduled to host a town hall meeting in Windham at 5 p.m., hours before two of his rivals, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meet for the fifth GOP presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. It is the only debate that Christie did not qualify for.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«Other news» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Other news </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> A one-on-one debate between Haley and DeSantis could help decide the Republican alternative to Trump<use xlink:href="#play-icon" xmlns:xlink=«http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink»> </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Chris Christie questions Nikki Haley’s ability and desire to beat Donald Trump </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> New Hampshire attorney general suggests national Dems broke law by calling primary ‘meaningless’ </bsp-custom-headline> </bsp-list-loadmore>

The news comes as a surprise, given that Christie had staked the success of