Five things Chris Christie’s presidential announcement tells us about his next campaign

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Chris Christie announced his bid for president Tuesday while hurling a string of insults at former President Donald Trump and portraying himself as a reasonable, experienced leader who’s learned a few things since 2016.

Christie’s nearly 2½-hour hybrid announcement and town hall meeting at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire opened a second presidential campaign for the former governor of New Jersey.

» READ MORE: Chris Christie’s political arc, from 2011 GOP darling to 2023 never (again) Trumper

Here’s what the announcement signals about the campaign ahead.

Christie was preaching to the choir on Tuesday — most voters who attended were moderate Republicans or Independents looking for an alternative to the former president.

He gave them the show they bought tickets for. He called the former president a “self-conscious, self-serving, mirror hog.” He said Trump made the country “smaller by dividing us even further and pitting one group against another.” He slammed some of Trump’s policies and his family members.

But Christie also insisted that he’s also in the race to win, noting that the lane to victory runs through Trump.

“How are those two things mutually exclusive?” Christie said of wanting to take down Trump and also advance to the White House. “Let me be very clear, I am going out there to take out Donald Trump, but here’s why: I wanna win.”

And Christie didn’t just go after Trump; he knocked fellow candidates who hadn’t done the same — invoking a Harry Potter reference and calling Trump “Voldemort,” several times during the meeting. He subtly dismissed several of his opponents, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

“We have pretenders all around us who want to tell you, ‘Pick me cause I’m kind of like what you picked before, but not quite as crazy, but I don’t want to say his name,’” Christie said.

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Chris Christie loves a town hall meeting. As governor, he held dozens of town hall meetings broadcast on YouTube, often resulting in emotional or punchy viral moments. Given his ease going back and forth with voters, unscripted, the format allows him to draw a direct distinction with Trump, who he noted several times has not held a similar event.

His debut event lasted more than two hours. He took a dozen random audience questions, at times engaging in follow-ups.

They weren’t all softballs, either. He was pressed on his stance on abortion, Ukraine, and whether he’d pardon Trump if elected president. And he seemed to relish the honest, open, straight talk. Christie is a candid, occasionally self-deprecating guy, which he’s using to contrast with the front-runner.

“I lost. You people did that to me in 2016,” Christie said to laughs. “But beware of the leader who won’t admit any of those shortcomings.”

Christie’s unpopular poll numbers are a problem for him. And he showed a keen interest in acknowledging past political errors. He opened up by saying he wasn’t a perfect politician or a perfect person.

“If your leaders are not willing to admit to you that they’re fallible, that they make mistakes, that they hurt like you ... and that they suffered disappointments ... beware,” Christie said. “Beware of the leader in this country who you have handed leadership to who has never made a mistake, who has never done anything wrong.”

Later, asked what the biggest mistake he’s made in public service has been, he brought up Bridgegate, the George Washington Bridge closure scandal that permanently tarnished his political reputation.

“It’s the biggest mistake I’ve made,” he said. “But being stupid isn’t a crime.”

Christie said the buck stopped with him and he’d learned the importance of elevating trustworthy deputies to positions of power. He was also sure to remind the audience it was 10 years ago.

If Christie wants to advance his own candidacy, he’ll need more than Trump bashing, and the thesis he debuted on Tuesday was that he could unite a country he described as becoming too insular, with people sequestered into similar-minded tribes.

“I’ve watched our country over the last decade, which seems to be getting smaller and smaller,” Christie said. “Smaller in every way. Smaller in the way we talk to each other. Smaller in the way we look at each other. Smaller in the things that we talk to each other about. Smaller in the issues that we care enough to get angry about.”

Without citing specific issues, he said candidates are focused on small things that divide, a seeming reference to GOP cultural hot button issues.

“We have candidates in this race, who their entire reason for running is to be against things,” he said. “Sometimes that needs to happen. But what’s next? What’s your next plan? How are you going to make this country bigger?”

The “big, not small,” pitch seemed like an early attempt to cast himself as the adult in the room — and one who knows the nation’s history and the leaders who steered it when it’s been tested. He made references to Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. He also quoted letters from John and Abigail Adams.

The question is whether GOP voters, who so recently rallied around Trump, will go for that vision and for Christie as the messenger.

In a contest that can hinge on how much airtime or attention you can get, Christie comes in with an advantage: He easily attracts the media.

That was on full display at his announcement, where reporters crammed into the college auditorium.

Christie is probably the most popular Republican from New Jersey in recent history and although his star has fallen, he’s well known for being quotable. And he’s striking a chord by doing what many other candidates are not: criticizing Trump.

It’s early, but Christie’s penchant for direct exchanges with voters in town hall meetings also makes for better authentic campaign moments than routine stump speeches. That, too, could likely draw outsized media coverage compared with other candidates polling similarly to him.

As he wrapped up, Christie told the engaged but fading crowd that he’d be back.

“I promise you I will always show up,” Christie said. “I will always take your questions. I will always answer them honestly, and I will always listen. We may disagree ... but you will never ever, ever, ever have to wonder whether I hear you.”