Every term ends, Jersey. That’s a fact. And after two terms, you just can’t come back. So he crossed that big river and came into the city. On stage was Springsteen, in the audience Chris Christie.

They never quite saw eye to eye, but the two men had a brief détente following Hurricane Sandy, when Mr. Christie was at the apex of his popularity. A sign of how far he’d come and how high he’d climbed, Mr. Christie told reporters that the two men had hugged and that “we’re friends” after a hurricane relief telethon in 2013.

But Mr. Christie soon began to stumble. There was the battle over public pensions in which unions accused him of feeling no pain. His allies shut down the George Washington Bridge, charged with doing things he can’t explain.

Mr. Springsteen even mocked him on a late-night show, in a song set to the tune of “Born to Run,” singing: “They shut down the tollbooths of glory ‘cause we didn’t endorse Christie.”

Mr. Christie’s subsequent endorsement of President Trump in 2016, whom Mr. Springsteen called a “con man” in a protest song, likely dashed any hope of another embrace, either with Mr. Springsteen or with many of his constituents.

Now his luck may have died and his home state love gone cold, but in New Jersey, for now he’ll stay. Unless he hears the call of a White House role, then it’s off to D.C. as soon as he’s told.