After dropping out of the Republican primary, Chris Christie emerged as one of Donald Trump’s most vocal, and arguably most effective, surrogates. But the unusual bromance between the New Jersey governor and the New York real-estate mogul has come at a steep political cost to Christie. Now, despite months of loyalty to the man he reportedly calls “Mr. Trump,” Christie appears to be fading into the background as the Trump campaign sinks under a wave of sexual harassment allegations, just as new developments in the “Bridgegate” scandal threaten to drown Christie’s own political legacy back home. With Christie’s gubernatorial approval rating hitting a new low, it’s looking increasingly clear that hitching his Beltway ambitions to Trump’s star was a career-ending mistake.

In recent weeks, Christie has struggled to defend his former rival. After Trump’s hot-mic scandal first broke two weeks ago, Christie characterized the Republican nominee’s remarks as “indefensible.” He pulled out of a scheduled CNN appearance the day after the recording first surfaced, and was conspicuously absent from the second presidential debate. On Monday, when asked if he was “proud” of the Trump campaign, the governor demurred. “For me, the person who needs most to be concerned about the kind of campaign they are running is the candidate. Because it’s the candidate’s campaign,” Christie told NBC News. “It’s not my campaign. It’s not Jeff Sessions’s campaign. It’s not Rudy Giuliani’s campaign. We’re surrogates. And I’m proud of everything I’ve said and that’s all I can control. The rest of it I can’t control.”

It was a telling admission of defeat after months of fervently defending any number of Trump’s indefensible political blunders on the campaign trail. As the head of Trump’s White House transition team—a consolation prize, and perhaps a stepping-stone to a Cabinet position, after Trump passed over him for vice president—Christie has as much invested as anybody in getting Trump across the finish line. Yet as The Washington Post reported Wednesday, Christie has effectively delegated his responsibilities to Rich Bagger, his former chief of staff, who is at the center of the potentially ill-fated effort to assemble a viable Trump administration. Christie, after all, has his own problems to deal with. Earlier this month, the prosecution’s star witness and former Christie ally David Wildstein testified in the ongoing “Bridgegate” case that the governor was not only aware of the 2013 scheme to engineer a politically-motivated traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge, but that he laughed about it (and allegedly colluded with New York governor Andrew Cuomo to cover up his involvement). Last week, a New Jersey judge issued a criminal summons against Christie after ruling that there was probable cause to launch a criminal investigation into his role in the lane-closure scandal. (Christie has maintained he had “no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening,” according to a spokesperson.)

Bridgegate isn’t the only reason that Christie’s political stock is tanking. New Jersey voters were peeved when he abandoned the state to campaign for president, putting his national ambitions ahead of the state’s interests. A 2015 survey of conservative New Jersey voters found that only 5 percent supported his decision to run. Christie’s fortunes sank further when he didn’t return to the Garden State after ending his bid, instead becoming a top surrogate and adviser to Donald Trump. As if to deliberately solidify his unpopularity, last week Christie signed a bill increasing the gas tax 23 cents—the first gas tax increase since 1988. According to a poll released Wednesday, Christie’s approval rating has since sunk to 21 percent, down from 26 percent in July. Or, put another way, a whopping four out of five people in New Jersey disapprove of the Republican governor.

As Hillary Clinton’s lead in the polls widens, a Trump presidency is looking increasingly unlikely. And Christie—once the tough-talking, forthright face of moderate Republicanism and a rising star within the party—is already collateral damage. With a year and a half remaining in his term as New Jersey governor, the best thing Christie can do right now is focus on salvaging his gubernatorial legacy. Cutting ties with one of the most controversial and polarizing presidential candidates in modern U.S. history seems like a good place to start.