WATCH: Chris Christie says he’s out

TRENTON – In the end, there was no bluster, no boasts, no angry takedowns.

Gov. Chris Christie ended his campaign for president Wednesday, bowing out in a Facebook post: “I leave the race without an ounce of regret.’’

“I’m so proud of the campaign we ran, the people that ran it with me and all those who gave us their support and confidence along the way,’’ he wrote.

The New Jersey governor finished a dismal sixth in the New Hampshire Republican primary, prompting him to call off a planned trip to South Carolina in advance of the next nominating contest Feb. 20.

Christie said after the vote came in that he would instead head home to reassess his campaign. Campaign spokeswoman Samantha Smith said Christie shared his decision to get out of the race with staff at his campaign headquarters in Morristown late Wednesday afternoon.

Another early exit

Christie dropped out of the race the same day that Carly Fiorina announced on social media that she, too, was calling it quits. Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, won just 4 percent of the vote in New Hampshire. Christie had 7 percent.

Christie had been banking on a strong finish in New Hampshire and spent more than 70 days campaigning in the state, holding well-received town halls and meet-and-greets.

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But Tuesday’s result was the final blow for a candidate whose campaign saw glimmers of hope at times, but had trouble from the get-go raising money and building support in a crowded Republican field dominated by another brash East Coaster, businessman Donald Trump.

While Trump posed a challenge to the entire Republican field, his dominance seemed especially damaging to Christie, who had branded himself the “telling it like it is” candidate.

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While ending his run for the presidency, Christie will face a slew of unsolved problems in New Jersey and rock-bottom approval ratings from residents who, polls show, feel he put their needs behind national ambitions.

“I ran for president with the message that the government needs to once again work for the people, not the people work for the government,’’ Christie said on Facebook. “And while running for president I tried to reinforce what I have always believed - that speaking your mind matters, that experience matters, that competence matters and that it will always matter in leading our nation. That message was heard by and stood for by a lot of people, but just not enough and that’s ok.’’

“I have both won elections that I was supposed to lose and I’ve lost elections I was supposed to win and what that means is you never know what will happen. That is both the magic and the mystery of politics - you never quite know when which is going to happen, even when you think you do.’’

He told supporters he and wife Mary Pat “thank you for the extraordinary display of loyalty, friendship, understanding and love.’’

Some early promise

Christie racked up a long list of notable endorsements from state legislative leaders in New Hampshire. At the end of 2015, he appeared to be breaking into the top tier after a video of him discussing a friend’s struggle with drug addiction went viral.

Mixed signals for Chris Christie as N.H. votes

Then the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino in particular played to Christie’s strengths, allowing him to talk about his previous job as a U.S. attorney and play up his law-and-order credentials. None of it translated into any significant bump in the polls.

A domineering performance during the last Republican debate before the New Hampshire primary earned him strong reviews — and some scorn from fellow Republicans. Christie excoriated Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, touted as a possible “establishment” alternative to Trum, during an extended, much-discussed exchange.

“The attack on Rubio seems like it was more of a suicide bombing. He hit his target but took himself out,’’ said Matthew Hale, a Seton Hall University political scientist.

Wrote a poster on twitter: Christie “threw his grenade and will walk away with nothing.”

Christie may have missed a better chance at the White House four year ago, when some of his party’s most powerful statesmen and donors begged him to run in 2012. But Christie declined, saying that he didn’t feel like he was ready.

WATCH: Chris Christie crashes in New Hampshire primary

Christie’s aggressive political team worked to rack up endorsements and wide victory margins in his re-election bid for governor as a springboard for 2016. At the same time, his aides took their game of doling out political favors and punishments too far, leading to one of the most dumbfounding political scandals in recent memory. Aides purposely created traffic jams in the town of Fort Lee to punish the local mayor, who chose not to endorse Christie’s re-election.

While Christie first laughed off the suggestion that his team had anything to do with the plot, the denials quickly unraveled following the release of emails, including one from a top aide that read, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”

Three people have been indicted in the scheme, including a former high school classmate of the governor who has pleaded guilty and is working with federal prosecutors.

A smaller field

Other Republicans who have left the race include South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

With Christie gone, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are in stronger positions to cut down maverick frontrunner Donald Trump, said Hale, from Seton Hall.

Christie helped the other governors, Hale said, by taking down Rubio in Saturday’s debate. Rubio went from second-place in New Hampshire polling to a fifth-place primary finish.

“Coalescing around someone is an important stepping stone for the Republican Party because if that doesn’t happen Donald Trump is going to be the nominee,” Hale said. “Christie can have a leadership role in coalescing. If he doesn’t, they all go down with the ship.’’

One of Christie’s first phone calls, however, was to Trump.

Trump said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, “I think that Chris did an amazing job in terms of the debate as a prosecutor and he's a friend of mine and he actually called me last night and we had a long talk and he's a little disappointed because he really did do a great job, he did an amazing job during that debate. I was witness to it because I was standing next to Marco — who I like very much — and, you know, it was a strange kind of a situation going on there. It was a little bit strange and Marco understands that and he'll be able to fix it, I hope.’’

Christie went into this week’s vote on the ropes financially. Eight GOP candidates had more money in their campaign accounts on Dec. 31, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

The Associated Press contributed

Bob Jordan 609-984-4343, bjordan@gannettnj.com