Fox News’ Neil Cavuto flat out asked former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday if he “got the sense” that he has no shot at the GOP nomination after he was consistently booed during the first debate Wednesday night.
Christie was booed immediately after he was introduced as a participant in the debate and later had to be defended by moderator Bret Baier after the booing began interrupting the debate.
“So listen, the more time we spend doing this, the less time they can talk about issues you want to talk about,” Baier told the crowd amid constant booing.
Cavuto asked about the crowd’s response.
“You got a lot of people booing you, and unlike Ronald Reagan, he was not booed by many in his own party at the time. Did you get a sense with that exchange, governor, that you don’t have a chance at this nomination?” Cavuto asked. (RELATED: Winners, Losers And Empty Suits: GOP Debate Performances Ranked)
“Not at all and in fact, look, the hall is a small group of people compared to our Republican Party across the country. That’s why, Neil, if you look at the newest poll that’s come out of New Hampshire, just three days ago, I’m now comfortably in second place at 14% of the vote. Clear by margin of error, past Vivek Ramaswamy who is in second — or third place and five points ahead of Ron DeSantis who is now at 9%. Now, we have a ways to go. We still have 20 points to catch up to Donald Trump but I’ve only been in this race two and a half months and I’ve gone from zero to 14 in New Hampshire,” Christie said confidently.
“So I’m not discouraged at all. I’m incredibly encouraged. Let’s face it, who was booing me in the crowd last night? Some of the folks who were doing the loudest booing are the people who are invested in the swamp that Donald Trump helped to create for them in Washington, D.C. He said he was going to drain the swamp. All he did was rearrange it. And rearrange it so that members of his own family could do the same things that Hunter Biden and other members of the Biden family are doing right now.”
Christie also received boos when explaining why he would not support former President Donald Trump as the Republican nominee if he’s convicted.