New Jersey governor garnered less than 10% of the vote in primary despite reportedly making more scheduled stops there than any other candidate

Chris Christie, the pugnacious governor of New Jersey who staked his 2016 presidential campaign on a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary, has suspended his candidacy after winning less than 10% of the vote on Tuesday, a campaign staffer confirmed to the Guardian.

Christie failed to win over Granite State voters despite relentless campaigning. He made at least 195 scheduled stops, more than any other candidate, over nearly 70 days since last summer, according to New England Cable News.

Campaigning at town halls in front of a large “Christie 2016: Telling it like it is” banner, the governor pitched himself to voters on a promise of direct speech and pragmatic problem-solving, pointing to his record in New Jersey of cutting state costs tied to public teachers’ pensions and forging – for a time – bipartisan cooperation with the Democratic legislature.

New Hampshire voters did not buy it, delivering a devastating blow to Christie’s once glittering political career.

Two years ago, Christie was re-elected in New Jersey with 60% of the vote. A year earlier, his home-state popularity had touched 70%, owing to a positive appraisal of his handling of the Hurricane Sandy clean-up effort.

Those triumphs were overshadowed, however, by a political scandal over lane closures on a major bridge connecting New Jersey and New York City. The scandal resulted in a guilty plea in federal court and two indictments for close Christie aides and associates; prosecutions continue. The governor has denied any prior knowledge of the lane closures.

Last month, a poll by New Jersey’s Fairleigh Dickinson University showed that Christie’s approval rating in his home state had hit record lows, with only 31% of respondents approving of his job performance, compared with 59% who disapproved.

Despite never having gained traction as a candidate, Christie may have made a significant impact on the presidential race. His attack on Marco Rubio, who had been rising in the polls, at a Republican debate this weekend flustered the Florida senator and likely contributed to Rubio’s underwhelming fifth-place finish in New Hampshire.

Before the debate, Rubio appeared to be establishing himself as the mainstream solution for a Republican party uneasy with the two candidates, businessman Donald Trump and Texas senator Ted Cruz, who performed best in the first voting contest, in Iowa. After Christie’s attack, Rubio appeared to have lost luster.

Whatever support Rubio lost from his run-in with Christie, however, does not appear to have accrued to the New Jersey governor. Ohio governor John Kasich nearly matched Christie for campaigning days in the state and walked away with second place at almost 16%.

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As energetically as Christie campaigned in New Hampshire, he could not escape trouble back home. In the final days of campaigning here, dozens of transit union employees from New Jersey trekked to New Hampshire to protest outside the governor’s town hall events.

Home-state antipathy to Christie was crystallized in an blistering editorial published by the Newark Star-Ledger when Christie launched his campaign in June. “He lies,” the editors warned bluntly.

“My testimony amounts to a warning: don’t believe a word the man says,” wrote Tom Moran, of the paper’s editorial board. “When Christie picks up the microphone, he speaks so clearly and forcefully that you assume genuine conviction is behind it.

“Be careful, though. It’s a kind of spell. He is a remarkable talent with a silver tongue. But if you look closely, you can see that it is forked like a serpent’s.”