New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie formally launched his 2016 presidential campaign on Tuesday.
The 52-year-old governor announced his bid for the Republican nomination at his former high school in Livingston, New Jersey where he once walked the halls as class president.
"We need to have strength and decision making and authority back in the Oval Office and that is why today I am proud to announce my candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States of America."
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Christie's "Telling It Like It Is" campaign slogan seemed to echo the straightforward attitude the New Jersey governor has become known for.
"I mean what I say and I say what I mean and that's what America needs right now," the governor told his supporters. "You're going to get what I think whether you like it or not, or whether it makes you cringe every once in a while or not." (Tweet This)
More than a dozen Republicans have already declared their candidacy for the November 2016 election. The 52-year-old Christie has spent time in early voting states New Hampshire and Iowa in recent months, generating speculation that he could jump into the race.
But the announcement comes as he has lost traction in his home state. Christie's approval rating in New Jersey sits at just 30 percent, according to a recent poll by Farleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind.
Things don't bode any better on a national scale as the latest NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll hints that Christie will have some serious ground to cover. Christie currently sits in ninth place behind Republican favorites like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.
Christie would have about 5.6 percent support among Republican candidates, according to a Reuters and Ipsos poll through June 2.
Christie recently won one of his biggest political battles when New Jersey's highest court ruled that he can cut $1.6 billion from state pension funding.
— Reuters contributed to this report