New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suspended his presidential campaign on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after a poor finish in the 2016 New Hampshire primary.
"I leave the race without an ounce of regret," he said in a statement. "I’m so proud of the campaign we ran, the people that ran it with me and all those who gave us their support and confidence along the way."
The AP reported Tuesday night Christie would go home to New Jersey to "take a deep breath" and figure out the next steps of his campaign.
Christie announced his presidential run in June, criticizing both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill in a speech at his alma mater, Livingston High School in New Jersey.
"Both parties have failed our country... both parties have led us to believe that America, a country that was built on compromise -- that compromise is somehow a dirty word," Christie said.
"We need to have the courage to choose, we need to have the courage to stand up and say 'enough,'" Christie added.
Christie was never a front-runner after entering the race, trailing other Republicans like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and business mogul Donald Trump. He started slipping in the polls in August, when even Republicans in his home state said Christie wouldn't be their top choice for president.
He entered the GOP primary after a trying time in his career, with the Bridgegate scandal still making headlines. Christie said the controversy over the closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge, allegedly as retaliation against a political rival, was a non-story. He blamed the media for blowing up the story and argued investigations into the incident backed up his account.
Christie capitalized on his tough-talking persona throughout his campaign, which featured the slogan "Telling It Like It Is." He exchanged blows with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee over Social Security during the first primary debate in August, and jokingly threatened he could "go nuclear" ahead of the second Republican debate.
He made several eyebrow-raising comments throughout the course of his campaign, once accusing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton of supporting the "systematic murder of children" by standing by Planned Parenthood. He also claimed that as president, he'd want to "have a system that tracks you from the moment you come in" the country, in order to track immigrants like FedEx packages.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the day the AP tweeted Christie would return to New Jersey. The AP tweeted Tuesday evening.
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