What are the odds that Chris Christie will try to run for the Menendez Senate seat as plan B?

[AdamGG]

3. Except, he's highly ambitious and this is his best opportunity to advance

Senate seats are often held for multiple terms and it's a rare opportunity to have a seat become available in his home state because the incumbent has imploded.

Is Christie term limited from serving as governor again? He's unlikely to be elected president and he may become less of a relevant figure as the time he served in office becomes something that's further in the past.

All the publicity of the presidential campaign is almost the perfect platform to jump into the Senate race. He has extremely high visibility and it helps him re-establish his bonafides in NJ as a no nonsense centrist by publicly bashing Trump every day. It's possible that his presidential candidacy is more about reviving his political viability in NJ, which got tarnished by the GW bridge scandal and his support of Trump.

He can't win the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 by bashing Trump, but he can publicly put himself on the right side of history and revive his political future in NJ.

Every Senator sees themselves as one step away from the presidency. Christie doesn't want to be a sideline political figure for the rest of his life; he's highly ambitious. I'd be surprised if he doesn't see the Senate seat as a big step forward that he has a much higher chance of achieving than the presidency next year.