Published: 9 November 2026 | USA 247 Trend Post
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is considering a third run for president in 2028, and he has a blunt message for his party after last week's midterm elections: "The Trump era is over."
Christie, 64, made the comments in an interview with Politico, reported by The Hill on 6 November, and in a separate interview with the New York Post on 5 November. He said he will decide on a 2028 campaign in the coming months, argued that the Republican Party needs new leadership after losing control of both chambers of Congress, and took aim at Vice President JD Vance, widely seen as the early front-runner for the Republican nomination.
The short version: Christie is the first prominent Republican to openly float a 2028 bid since the midterm defeat, and he is using the moment to argue that the party must move beyond Donald Trump. His chances, by his own party's polling, look slim — but his intervention has already become one of the most talked-about stories in American politics this week.
Table of Contents
- 1. What Christie Said: 'The Trump Era Is Over'
- 2. Who Is Chris Christie?
- 3. Why Now? The Midterm Aftermath
- 4. The Vance Question: Christie's Attack on the Front-Runner
- 5. A Warning to Democrats Too
- 6. The 2028 Republican Field Takes Shape
- 7. What Happens Next
- Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Christie Said: 'The Trump Era Is Over'
Christie's central argument is simple: the midterm results showed that the Republican Party's current direction is not working, and the party needs to change course before 2028. "The Trump era is over," Christie told the New York Post after the election that handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress. "The Republican Party needs to move on."
Speaking to the Post, Christie said the midterm defeat was "a repudiation of Trump and the Republican Party" rather than an endorsement of the Democrats. He argued that the results demonstrated that Trump's political influence over Republican candidates had become a liability rather than an asset, and that the people who lead the party going forward should be able to "articulate a message that's forward-looking and different than just sitting around and talking about Donald Trump."
In his interview with Politico, Christie said he is considering a presidential bid in 2028 and will decide in the coming months. He said he considers himself better prepared for a campaign than other prominent Republicans, pointing to his record of consistently criticising Trump during the president's second term. He also said that "all good minds in our party should be thinking about what our new direction should be. I said I was open to considering running again, and I am."
Christie told the Post that he has no timeline set for making a decision. But his comments build on remarks he made in September at the Granite State Summit on Responsible Gaming in New Hampshire, where he openly said he was considering a third run and that anyone who has run for president, lost, and claims they are not looking at it again is lying.
2. Who Is Chris Christie?
Chris Christie, 64, served two terms as governor of New Jersey, from 2010 to 2018, and was once seen as one of the Republican Party's brightest stars. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and again in 2024, losing both times — and, as one profile of the 2028 field noted, he did not win a single state in either of his last two runs.
Christie has built his recent political brand on opposition to Trump. He broke with the former president after Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen, and during the 2024 campaign he was one of the few Republican candidates who directly criticised Trump rather than avoiding the subject. He has continued that criticism since leaving the race, and he now works as a contributor at ABC News.
His supporters argue that this record gives him a unique selling point: he offers the party a clean break from the Trump era that neither Vice President Vance nor other leading contenders can match. His critics point to his record at the ballot box — two failed presidential campaigns — and to polling that suggests his support among Republican voters is extremely limited. The RealClearPolitics polling average does not even list Christie as a potential candidate, according to one report on his possible bid.
Christie had also predicted that Republicans were headed for a monumental defeat in the midterms, a forecast that proved accurate when Democrats won both chambers on Tuesday, 3 November. That correct prediction has given his post-election comments more weight than they might otherwise have carried.
3. Why Now? The Midterm Aftermath
The timing of Christie's intervention is no accident. On Tuesday, 3 November, voters handed control of the House of Representatives and the Senate to the Democrats, ending Republican control of Congress. The new Congress convenes on 3 January 2027, and the result has triggered a wide reckoning inside the Republican Party about what went wrong and what comes next.
Christie is arguing that the defeat was not an accident or a quirk of turnout, but a verdict on how Republicans governed. "This was a repudiation of Trump and the Republican Party," he said. In his telling, voters were expressing dissatisfaction with Republicans and Trump, and the party should use the defeat as an opportunity to redefine itself before the 2028 presidential election.
He is not the only Republican thinking this way, but he is the most prominent to say it so directly — and to attach it to a possible candidacy. Other Republicans are having the same debate more quietly, in private meetings and in anonymous comments to reporters. Christie has put himself at the front of the argument, betting that there is an audience in the party for a candidate who will say out loud what others will only whisper.
It is worth noting what Christie is not saying. He is not calling on Trump to leave the stage immediately — Trump remains president through January 2029 and retains substantial influence within the party, while congressional Republican leaders have signalled they intend to work alongside him from the minority. Christie's argument is about the future: who leads the party after Trump, and in what direction.
4. The Vance Question: Christie's Attack on the Front-Runner
Christie's sharpest comments were aimed at Vice President JD Vance, widely seen as the early front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2028. Christie said he does not believe Vance is a viable candidate for president.
"I don't think he's a viable candidate for president because I think in two years he will reek from the stink of Donald Trump and what has happened in his administration, and I don't think he can win the presidency," Christie told the New York Post. In the Politico interview, he said he considers himself better prepared for a potential campaign than other prominent Republicans, including Vance.
Christie has previously named Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Georgia governor Brian Kemp as likely front-runners for the nomination. His argument is that all of them are tied to the current administration in ways that will hurt them with general election voters, while he — as a long-standing Trump critic — is not.
Other reports have described Christie as dismissing both Vance and Florida governor Ron DeSantis as lacking standing in the new political landscape. Whether that assessment is fair is a matter of debate: Vance remains the early favourite in most assessments of the 2028 field, and betting markets have made him the front-runner. But Christie is betting that the midterm results have changed the calculation, and that Republican voters will be more open to a break with Trumpism than they were a week ago.
5. A Warning to Democrats Too
Christie's post-election comments were not aimed only at his own party. He also warned Democrats against reading too much into their victories, arguing that Tuesday's results were not an endorsement of the party's most progressive policies.
"The country didn't vote for socialism," Christie told the Post. He warned that "there's a very real and serious chance that the Democrats will overplay their hand — that they will misread [the election]." In his view, voters were primarily expressing dissatisfaction with Republicans and Trump rather than embracing the Democratic Party's progressive wing, and Democrats who treat the win as a mandate for sweeping ideological change would be making a mistake.
It is a familiar argument from Christie, who has long positioned himself as a critic of both parties' extremes. It also serves a political purpose: by warning Democrats not to overreach, he presents himself as a voice of moderation and common sense, the kind of figure who could appeal to voters in the centre — exactly the audience he would need if he ran for president.
6. The 2028 Republican Field Takes Shape
Christie's comments come as the 2028 presidential race is already taking shape, less than a week after the midterms. With Trump barred by the Constitution from seeking a third term — he remains president through January 2029 — the Republican nomination is genuinely open for the first time in a decade, and a long list of names is being discussed.
Vance is the early front-runner in most assessments, with Rubio and Kemp also mentioned as likely contenders, and DeSantis still in the conversation. Christie is now the first of the possible candidates to openly say he is considering a run and to frame his candidacy as a break with the Trump era.
The field will take months, if not years, to settle. Christie himself said he will decide in the coming months, and other candidates are likely to wait until after the new Congress is seated in January before making their own announcements. But the debate Christie has started — about whether the party should move on from Trump, and how — is now the central question of the Republican primary, and it will shape every candidacy that follows.
For Democrats, the 2028 field is also taking shape, though their attention for now is on taking control of Congress in January and on the investigations and legislation they plan to pursue. The presidential race is, for both parties, only just beginning.
7. What Happens Next
Christie has said he will decide on a 2028 campaign in the coming months, with no fixed timeline. In the meantime, he will continue to make his case in media appearances — including his role as an ABC News contributor — and in speeches to Republican audiences.
The immediate test of his argument will come in the coming weeks, as the Republican Party holds its leadership elections and begins to set its strategy for the new Congress. If the party's leaders move towards a break with Trump, Christie's intervention will look prescient. If they rally around the president and his agenda, Christie will remain what he has been for much of the last decade: a prominent critic on the outside of his own party, arguing for a direction it is not yet ready to take.
Either way, the 2028 race has begun — and Chris Christie, for the third time, wants to be part of it.
FAQs About Chris Christie and 2028
Is Chris Christie running for president in 2028?
Not yet. Christie has said he is considering a third presidential run in 2028 and will decide in the coming months. He previously ran for the Republican nomination in 2016 and 2024.
What did Christie mean by 'the Trump era is over'?
Christie said the phrase after Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. He argued the results were a repudiation of Trump and the Republican Party, and that the party needs new, forward-looking leadership.
Who does Christie see as his rivals for the 2028 Republican nomination?
Christie has named Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Georgia governor Brian Kemp as likely front-runners. He has said he does not believe Vance is a viable candidate for president.
What did Christie warn Democrats about?
Christie warned Democrats not to read the midterm wins as an endorsement of socialism or the party's most progressive policies, saying voters were expressing dissatisfaction with Republicans rather than embracing the Democratic left.
Has Christie run for president before?
Yes. Christie ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and 2024, and did not win a single state in either campaign. He served two terms as governor of New Jersey, from 2010 to 2018.
#ChrisChristie #2028Election #USPolitics #Trump #GOP #JDVance #TrendingNow #USA247TrendPost
