Christie, Fiorina withdraw, GOP field narrows

Christie, 53, said in a Facebook post he was leaving the race “without an ounce of regret,” a day after the combative Republican’s sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary raised doubts about his viability as a candidate. 

Fiorina, 61, a former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, said in a Facebook post she would suspend her campaign. The only woman in the Republican field placed seventh in New Hampshire, one of a series of state-bystate nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. 

Trump’s remaining opponents, most of them mainstream Republicans, will likely benefit from their departures, which leave seven Republicans from a field that once had 17 candidates. Trump won the New Hampshire Republican primary by almost 20 points. 

The fifth-place finish of US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who had hoped to emerge as Trump’s main rival after a surprise third-place showing in Iowa last week, leaves Trump without a clear challenger among the so-called establishment candidates. 

On the Democratic side, US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a democratic socialist, easily defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.   

The victories in both parties by candidates considered outsiders, testified to the sizable share of American voters upset over the slow economic recovery, immigration and America’s place in the world and who are willing to shake up Washington.