New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former business executive Carly Fiorina ended their presidential campaigns on Wednesday, narrowing the field challenging frontrunner Donald Trump in the race for
New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former business executive Carly Fiorina ended their presidential campaigns on Wednesday, narrowing the field challenging frontrunner Donald Trump in the race for the 2016 Republican nomination.
Mr Christie, 53, said in a Facebook post he was leaving the race “without an ounce of regret”, a day after the combative Republican’s sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary raised doubts about his viability as a candidate.
Ms Fiorina, 61, a former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, said in a Facebook post she would suspend her campaign. The only woman in the Republican field placed seventh in New Hampshire, one of a series of state-by-state nominating contests for the November 8 election to succeed President Barack Obama.
Mr Trump’s remaining opponents, most of them mainstream Republicans, will likely benefit from their departures, which leave seven Republicans from a field that once had 17 candidates.
Mr Trump won the New Hampshire Republican primary by almost 20 points. The fifth-place finish of US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who had hoped to emerge as Mr Trump’s main rival after a surprise third-place showing in Iowa last week, leaves Mr Trump without a clear challenger among the so-called establishment candidates.
On the Democratic side, US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a democratic socialist, easily defeated former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.
Mr Christie poured much of his campaign’s resources into New Hampshire and had considered a good showing there critical. He won only about seven per cent of votes on Tuesday.
“Christie needed to drop out. In short, he does not have the money or organisation to be viable in South Carolina and beyond,” said pollster Patrick Murray. “Christie was certainly hurt by Trump stealing his ‘telling it like it is thunder,’ but Christie was also out-organised in the ultimate retail politics state.”
