Fundraisers for former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the top choice of many Wall Street Republicans, are making strong plays for three of Christie's top donors. | AP Photo Bush backers reach out to Christie donors After governor's withdrawal, other establishment GOP candidates rush to claim his Wall Street supporters.

NEW YORK -- As Chris Christie exits the 2016 campaign, the race is on among the remaining establishment-friendly candidates to lock down the New Jersey governor’s endorsement and top Wall Street donors.

Top Christie donor targets include Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen and Anthony Carbonetti, a long-time chief of staff to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani now at the Wall Street firm Perella Weinberg Partners.


People familiar with the matter said fundraisers for former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the top choice of many Wall Street Republicans, are making strong plays for all three Christie donors.

The effort is being led by Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, who chairs Bush’s fundraising efforts. People close to Bush are also trying to secure a Christie endorsement or at least ensure that the New Jersey governor does not endorse Donald Trump for the GOP nomination. The effort is complicated by the fact that ill feelings remain from Johnson’s pick of Bush over Christie. Johnson had been a long-time Christie backer.

Trump is running far from Christie’s establishment lane, but he had kind words for the governor Wednesday morning, saying the two had a lengthy conversation following Trump’s New Hampshire victory.

“I think that Chris did an amazing job in terms of the debate, as a prosecutor, and he’s a friend of mine,” Donald Trump said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “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.”

The push by Bush’s campaign to secure Christie’s top donors comes as the former Florida governor heads into a showdown in South Carolina with Florida Senator Marco Rubio for the title of top establishment alternative to Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Just a week ago, it appeared that many of Bush’s Wall Street donors would quickly move to Rubio following Rubio’s strong finish in the Iowa caucuses. One top Bush donor said privately last week that he hoped Bush would do poorly in New Hampshire so he could move to Rubio more easily.

But the Florida senator’s disastrous debate on Saturday and weak fifth place finish in New Hampshire have stopped that exodus for now and breathed some new life into Bush’s campaign.

Ohio Governor John Kasich’s second place finish in New Hampshire complicates things even more for Wall Street donors. Kasich, who worked at Lehman Brothers, is admired on Wall Street. But many donors do not believe the Ohio governor will fare as well when the race turns to the more conservative South.

Bush donors say that if their candidate can finish second behind Trump in South Carolina he will have a strong shot at unifying the establishment wing trying to take down Trump and Cruz. “If Jeb comes in second we will have a much better chance,” one top Bush donor said on Wednesday. “We have to come in second. We have to start knocking some other people off the field.”

So wooing Christie’s donors to help fuel the South Carolina ad war is now a top priority for Bush fundraisers. Given Christie’s brutal attacks on Rubio in Saturday night’s debate, Bush donors do not believe any of Christie’s supporters will back the Florida senator. But they are worried that Trump – who doesn’t need their money – will convince Christie backers to stay away from anyone else in the race.

There is potentially significant money at stake. Cohen, who has been a major target of federal securities regulators, has, along with his wife Alexandra, given $4 million to America Leads, the top super PAC backing Christie. Langone gave at least $250,000 and helped round up other donors before pulling back on his fundraising efforts in the second half of 2015. Carbonetti, a close friend of Langone’s, is viewed as a key ally in helping round up Wall Street money for Bush or any other Republican in the wake of Christie’s exit.