In a surprise move, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday night dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, making the announcement at a town hall in New Hampshire filled with his campaign supporters. NJ Spotlight News caught up with Matt Arco, political reporter for NJ Advance Media, who’s been on the campaign trail with Christie.

“It was clear that this is something that they’ve been talking about, kicking around, for a few weeks,” Arco said. “This idea that, hey, do we really have a winnable path here?”

“And more recently, just over the weekend, their internal polling showed what the public polling showed, which was at best he was probably going to have a third place finish in New Hampshire,” he continued. “And they did the math on what they were going to do after that, and it wasn’t a bright picture.”

Still, Christie’s stunning announcement got overshadowed by a hot mic moment that went out over the live feed, where Christie slammed rival Nikki Haley, saying “she’s gonna get smoked.”

Arco said: “If he was dropping out with a stated goal of not being a spoiler for Trump, to get caught on a hot mic saying that Nikki Haley doesn’t have a chance and everyone knows it … it sort of undercuts your stated of goal.”