Christie offers Democrats advice for beating Trump: ‘Replace Joe Biden’

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Chris Christie has told Democrats that the best thing they can do to beat former president and expected Republican nominee Donald Trump is to “replace Joe Biden”.

In his first interview since dropping out of the Republican primary almost a year ago, the ex-New Jersey governor said, “I just think that Joe Biden is probably the only major Democrat who Donald Trump could beat”.

He also agreed that the opposite is also true – that Mr Trump is the only Republican that Mr Biden could beat.

“I’ve known Joe Biden for 40 years. I like President Biden personally, always have. But you know, he’s past his sell-by date, it’s just time,” Mr Christie said. “Joe Biden could sell it better in 2020 than he’s able to in 2024. And that is just a product of age. And this is not me making some clinical diagnosis. I’m making a political diagnosis, that the guy isn’t as good as he was four years ago.”

Speaking about the upcoming general election, Mr Christie said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do in November. But I’m not voting for Donald Trump under any circumstance”.

Regarding the centrist, independent group No Labels, which looks set to nominate a presidential ticket of their own, Mr Christie said who the group will pull more voters away from, Mr Trump or Mr Biden, depends on who they nominate.

The ex-governor said the group hasn’t asked him to run but he didn’t reject the idea.

“I’d have to see a path for anybody, not just me. But I think anybody who would accept that would need to see a path to 270 ... electoral votes. If there was ever a time in our lifetime when a third-party candidate could make a difference. I think it’s now. The question, though, is what kind of difference,” he said.

According to RealClearPolitics’s polling average, Mr Trump leads Mr Biden in national polls of hypothetical head-to-head matchups – 46.7 per cent to 44.6 per cent.

When third-party and independent candidates are included, Mr Trump’s lead grows to 4.8 per cent, with the former president at 41.6 per cent, Mr Biden at 36.8 per cent, independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr at 13 per cent, and other candidates collectively at 4.4 per cent.