With Pence out, Christie predicts race will narrow further after third GOP debate

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he expects more people to drop out of the GOP presidential primary following the third debate, after former Vice President Mike Pence announced Saturday that he’s abandoning his White House bid.

“In the end, it just means this race is narrowing, which everyone said that it would,” Christie said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, after praising the former vice president for running "a tough race.”

“It will narrow more, I suspect, when we get to the debate stage in Miami,” Christie added.

Christie is set to take the debate stage Nov. 8, alongside three fellow Republican presidential hopefuls — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who have all hit the RNC’s polling and donor requirements, according to POLITCO’s analysis. The campaign of Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) also says he has met the necessary thresholds to join the group on stage in Miami. Former President Donald Trump, who leads the field by a wide margin and would easily qualify for the debate, is hosting a rally in Florida on the same day and is not expected to attend.

Both Scott and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson are trailing Christie in national polls. But the former New Jersey governor, whose stated mission has been to keep Trump from ascending to the White House once more, declined to say whether some of the lower-polling candidates should drop out.

“I think the field will consolidate, but it's not my place to tell people when to get out,” Christie said Sunday.