It's Official: Chris Christie Ends Presidential Campaign

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina dropped out of the race for the GOP nomination Wednesday, narrowing the field to six remaining candidates.

Christie had been huddling with his campaign aides, and the governor took to Facebook Wednesday to say he has formally suspended his campaign and ended his bid for the Republican nomination.

Christie announced Tuesday that he was returning home after a disappointing sixth place finish in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night.

Here is his statement:

“I ran for president with the message that the government needs to once again work for the people, not the people work for the government. And while running for president I tried to reinforce what I have always believed - that speaking your mind matters, that experience matters, that competence matters and that it will always matter in leading our nation. That message was heard by and stood for by a lot of people, but just not enough and that’s ok. I have both won elections that I was supposed to lose and I’ve lost elections I was supposed to win and what that means is you never know what will happen. That is both the magic and the mystery of politics - you never quite know when which is going to happen, even when you think you do. And so today, I leave the race without an ounce of regret. 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. Mary Pat and I thank you for the extraordinary display of loyalty, friendship, understanding and love.”

Read more: BREAKING: Christie Takes Break From Presidential Campaign After Big N.H. Loss

Fiorina announced her departure from the race in a Facebook post, saying, “This campaign was always about citizenship—taking back our country from a political class that only serves the big, the powerful, the wealthy, and the well connected.”

Christie, who acted triumphantly after his Saturday night debate-takedown of Marco Rubio, told his supporters that he’s going home to assess “how we move here from this race.”

“We haven’t been home for two weeks,” he said in a campaign video. “So we can actually get a change of clothes.”

Christie also cancelled his campaign events in South Carolina, where the next GOP primary will be held.

When he announced his bid last summer, Christie became the first former or sitting New Jersey governor to launch a presidential campaign since President Woodrow Wilson, although Robert Meyner received 43 votes at the 1960 Democratic Convention.

Christie banked on his brash image - an approach that served him well when he provided an aura of strong leadership during the worst of Superstorm Sandy in 2012 - to carry him to the GOP nomination.

“I mean what I say, and I mean what I say,” he told the filled a Livingston gymnasium last year where the crowd chanted his name, saying he plans to fix the nation’s woes - particularly those involving entitlements - “by force” if he has to.

His slogan was: “Telling it like it is,” emulated the words of the late straight-talking sports broadcaster, Howard Cosell. Christie had fashioned himself in a similar way, making himself famous for putting hecklers or protesters in their place during his speeches by using words and phrases such as, “Sit down, and shut up.”

In the end, however, others - such as Donald Trump - took the tell-it-like-it-is mantle away from Christie and scored their own successes, while Christie floundered and failed to gain traction.

In his home state, his approach also could be wearing thin. A recent poll shows he has a 30 percent approval rating in New Jersey, which is among the lowest approval ratings for any of the state’s governors in the past 25 years.

The ”Bridgegate” scandal - the George Washington Bridge lane-closing political payback scheme that led to a guilty plea and the indictment of two ex-Christie aides - became Christie’s first political setback soon after he was re-elected by a landslide in 2013.

Until then, many voters saw Christie as the man who helped lead a devastated state through the worst storm to ever hit its shores. Superstorm Sandy created a path of destruction from Bergen to Cape May counties, destroying century-old landmarks and tourist attractions, and causing billions of dollars in destruction.

Throughout the 2012 ordeal, Christie was often seen with his arm around the shoulders of storm-shocked residents, offering a comforting hand to a population that strongly needed it.

His early accomplishments, such as reforming the pension system, also enhanced his image as a can-do politician, and nearly compelled him to join the 2012 race for the Republican nomination against Mitt Romney.

But the Bridgegate scandal, his personal spending practices and other Christie behaviors that have drawn heavy criticism may not be all that’s driving his popularity down.

Nearly half the time, observers say, he just wasn’t been here.

Christie was out-of-state for all or part of 218 days in the first 518 days of his second term, and almost all of that travel helped him lay the groundwork to run for president, according to a “Christie Tracker” kept by WNYC.

In 2014 alone, taxpayers reportedly paid $492,420 for his travel costs, according to New Jersey Watchdog.

Matt Katz, who has kept the Christie Tracker for WNYC, noted in another article that the out-of-state trips could have had an adverse impact on Christie’s ability to govern.