Republican presidential candidates Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson both failed to meet the signature requirement to appear on Maine’s 2024 primary election ballot, the Department of the Maine Secretary of State announced Friday.
The deadline for candidates to achieve the 2,000 required signatures of Maine voters to appear on the ballot in the March 5 primary election was 5 p.m. on December 1.
As of that deadline, both former New Jersey Gov. Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson failed to obtain the sufficient number of signatures.
Six other Republican presidential candidates met the signature requirement: Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ryan Binkley, and Doug Burgum — though North Dakota Gov. Burgum suspended his campaign Monday.
The current Real Clear Politics national polling average in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race has Christie averaging just 2.5 percent, and Hutchinson at 0.5 percent.
Former President Donald Trump remains the frontrunner to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee by a large margin, leading Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 48 points nationally.
DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley remain in a close race for second place nationally, with DeSantis at 13.2 percent and Haley at 10.2 percent.
The Florida Governor has made the Iowa Caucus the focus of his campaign, recently completing the “full Grassley” by visiting all 99 Iowa counties — though he still trails Trump in the state by an average of almost 30 points.
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Haley is currently polling at second place in the New Hampshire Primary at 18.7 percent, however, like DeSantis, remains behind the former president by almost 30 points.
The Iowa Caucus will take place on January 15, and the New Hampshire Primary will be on January 23.
