Sununu encourages Christie to ‘be the hero’ and help Nikki Haley beat Trump

Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) is encouraging longtime friend and Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie to “be the hero” and throw his support behind former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for the Republican nomination.

Sununu claimed he was not “demanding” Christie drop out of the race but saying that the former New Jersey governor has a chance to be the hero by putting Haley over the top for the GOP nomination, thereby beating former President Donald Trump. Christie and Sununu have been critics of the former president.

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“I think Chris is smart enough to see the writing on the wall,” Sununu told Fox News on Tuesday night. “To know that he has a great opportunity here, not just to get behind Nikki, but to do something really important for the country and the party and start moving us forward. He has been, and I think [still] has the opportunity to continue to be a very important voice in that.”

Sununu endorsed Haley for president last month, beating out Christie and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). Although Trump is the front-runner for the party’s nomination, Haley, Christie, and DeSantis hope to prove themselves as viable alternatives in early-voting states.

Haley, who has strong support among independents, has focused her campaign on finishing in the top two in New Hampshire and South Carolina and is hoping for a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses. She has touted her foreign policy credentials as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration and her leadership background as a former South Carolina governor in her campaign.

Christie also hopes for a strong finish in New Hampshire, where he polls third behind Trump and Haley. Despite the third-place status, he said he would remain in the primary and ignore calls to drop from the race.

“When I got into the race, I said everybody is an underdog. And that’s why this kind of sophistry about who should get out of the race is kind of ridiculous,” Christie told MSNBC on Wednesday. “I mean, in the end, everyone is a long shot in this race but Donald Trump on the Republican side if you believe the polling.”

Christie lambasted Haley, DeSantis, and long-shot Republican hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy for not attacking or standing up to Trump and criticized Sununu for not attacking the former president as strongly as he has in the past. He also slammed Sununu for supporting a candidate who was not as vehemently against Trump.

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“Since Chris started to work for Nikki Haley and become an employee of Nikki Haley, it’s not the same Chris Sununu anymore,” Christie said. “Chris Sununu was one of the most vocal Donald Trump critics in this country. This is a guy who has said that Donald Trump is unfit. All things that his candidate is unwilling to say.”

Sununu is expected to campaign with Haley at three events in New Hampshire on Wednesday and appear with Haley on Friday in Iowa, ahead of the state’s Jan. 15 caucuses.