HOOKSETT, N.H. — Nikki Haley should drop out of the presidential race if she doesn’t win her home state of South Carolina, Chris Christie said during a campaign swing through New Hampshire on Friday.

Behind Haley in New Hampshire primary polls and battling her to be the single alternative to frontrunner former President Donald Trump, Christie began to lay the groundwork for calling on Haley to exit the race in February.

“She should win that state. And if she doesn't, she has to get out of the race. If you can't win your own home state, then where are you going to win?” Christie said in an exclusive interview with The Messenger.

The former New Jersey governor laid out his own rationale for staying in the primary through New Hampshire and beyond and suggested veteran news anchor Megyn Kelly made it clear she’s a “DeSantis person” after moderating the Alabama debate on Wednesday.

Coming off a standout performance in that Alabama debate, where he laid into his rivals for ignoring Trump, Christie headed straight to New Hampshire for a tour of college campuses. He encouraged students to register to vote in the Republican primary — even if they are unaffiliated, usually vote in their home state or normally would vote in a Democratic primary.

It’s part of his strategy to widen the electorate beyond the GOP base, which has been staunchly loyal to Trump since his 2016 New Hampshire primary win.

The way for Christie to weaken Haley is to outperform her in New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state where he is staking his campaign for a second time after garnering only 7% of the vote in 2016. But it’s a state where Haley has surged ahead of him. Both are far behind Trump, and Christie faced questions from voters and reporters on Friday about whether he’d consider clearing the way for Haley to avoid splitting the non-Trump vote.

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“I don't look at the polling as being instructive at all, having gone through this in 2016,” Christie told The Messenger, raising doubts that all of his supporters would shift to Haley or vice versa. “People just extrapolate these things from polls in a way that makes it too formulaic. Voters aren't that way.”

Christie did not say where he needs to finish in the Jan. 23 Granite State contest to continue in the race, but said he has a percentage in his mind and will drop out if he doesn’t meet it.

“That's for me to know. And believe me, you'll see me react to it. It’s not like you don't know what I will do. In 2016, I didn't get to the number I wanted to get to and I dropped out the next day,” Christie said. “But I don't think that's gonna happen. I feel it when I'm out there now interacting with voters.”

Former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie

Christie questioned the strength of Haley’s South Carolina political operation and downplayed his own dependence on the Palmetto State, which votes on Feb. 24.

“We'll go and compete in South Carolina. But really what we'll spend most of our time after New Hampshire is Michigan,” Christie said. “It has the same kind of rules as New Hampshire — open primary, Independents can vote and it’s not a caucus,” Christie added.

Haley has roots in South Carolina — literally. Her campaign headquarters is there, and her campaign noted she has more than 1,700 volunteers signed up across the state. Haley also drew a crowd of 2,500 to a recent Bluffton event and will get an outside boost from Americans for Prosperity Action, the Koch network super PAC that recently endorsed her.

Still, Christie is not convinced. Trump is dominating South Carolina primary polls, after all, and Haley left office in 2017.

“You’re telling me that her ground operation has been standing at the ready for six years?” Christie asked, noting that South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster endorsed Trump. Haley has the backing of South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, among others, and says more endorsements on the way.

Christie also dished on the headline-grabbing commercial break conversation he had with Kelly at the debate on Wednesday night. The former New Jersey governor said he approached the moderator desk because he wasn’t getting enough speaking time and said Kelly showed her “bias” in how she directed her questions.

“It's pretty clear to everybody she's a DeSantis person,” Christie said. “All I was asking for was for her to play fair.”

A representative for Kelly did not respond to a request for comment.

Christie didn’t seem too concerned about Ron DeSantis, though, telling The Messenger he thinks the Florida governor’s campaign could dwindle after the Iowa caucuses.

“He's got to do really well in Iowa or it's time to go back to Tallahassee,” Christie said. “We get here. It'll be me, Trump and Nikki. We’ll see how it goes.”

Meanwhile, New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu is still weighing an endorsement ahead of his state’s primary. Christie last spoke to Sununu ahead of the debate on Tuesday and said Sununu had planned to watch the program closely. Sununu has said he plans to support either Christie, Haley or DeSantis.

Christie is no stranger to big endorsements — he had the backing of the state’s largest newspaper in 2016 — but said he’s unsure how much endorsements matter. That being said, he welcomed Sununu’s potential support and noted they are more in sync than Sununu is with DeSantis or Haley.

“Chris and I are much more libertarian type of folks who say government's too big and has too many controls on our lives,” Christie said. “So I'd like to have it because I think it shows consistency for both of us.”

The pair also agree on their dislike for Vivek Ramaswamy. Sununu has called on Ramaswamy to drop out, and Christie had sharp criticism for the 38-year-old businessman on Friday. Ramaswamy used the Alabama stage to promote conspiracy theories about 9/11, the 2020 election, the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the so-called Great Replacement.

“He’s nuts, okay? He's going through the QAnon checklist. And I think he's doing it at the instruction of Trump,” Christie said, and then suggested Trump might force Ramaswamy to drop out of the race before the Iowa caucuses if the former president feels vulnerable. “I would not be the least bit surprised to see him get out before Iowa.”

Ramaswamy's campaign brushed off the comments and asked if Christie had dropped out and endorsed Haley yet.

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Christie Raises Doubts About Haley’s Strength in South Carolina (Exclusive)