New London, New Hampshire - Presidential hopeful Chris Christie held a town hall event at Colby Sawyer College on Tuesday evening, where he spoke on a number of different issues, further establishing himself as an outsider in the 2024 Republican primaries.

Christie's event fell on the same day as his biggest opponent in the race, Donald Trump, held a rally only 66 miles away in Windham. As Trump spent most of his time obsessing over the multiple criminal indictments he is facing, Christie went on the offensive.

"Literally the same time I'm walking around Ukraine, he's waltzing into a courtroom in Washington DC, to tell us he's being indicted for us," Christie said, as he recently returned from a trip to Ukraine. "How lucky are we that we have such a selfless, magnanimous leader?"

He went on to call out Trump for having expressed admiration for Russian president Vladimir Putin, asking the crowd "is that really the character and judgment that you want sitting [in the White House]?"

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Christie also poked fun at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who recently admitted that Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen were untrue.

"Let me give a big round of applause to governor DeSantis for catching up on two-and-half-year-old news," he joked.

The most surprising moment of the evening came when Christie defended the rights for trans youth to undergo gender-affirming care, arguing: "I don't want anybody telling me how to raise my kids."

"You know what my position is on that? Parents should be the ones making those decisions," Christie explained.

Chris Christie has been distingushing himself from fellow Republican candidates since he announced his bid for president back in June.

Most notably, he has criticized Donald Trump at every turn, and it seems to be working.

A poll released on Monday by the NH Journal found that while Trump maintains a huge lead in New Hampshire, Christie is now tied with DeSantis for second place, putting him ahead of his opponents that have been in the race longer.

Christie will face off with his opponents – not including Trump – at the first GOP debate which will take place in Milwaukee on August 23.