Chris Christie warns GOP becoming 'ineffective' in general elections: 'This shouldn't even be close'
Christie tells Brian Kilmeade the GOP is not getting 'tired of winning' like Trump predicted
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) offered a dismal message to Republicans after Tuesday's midterm election results as key Senate and gubernatorial races still hang in the balance after two days of vote counting.
"Why is it so close? In a state like Arizona, with a president with 40% job approval, with 8% inflation, with $4 gas, with crime rising everywhere, with fentanyl pouring over a border state like Arizona, why is it close? It should not even be close," Christie said Thursday on Brian Kilmeade's radio show.
"Without any of those things available to us in ‘14 and ’18, Doug Ducey won by 12 and 15 points, respectively, for governor. So, what are we talking about here? It is the choice of candidates and the way they've approached these things that have hurt us in general elections in swing states," he added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Arizona, one of the states integral in shaping the balance of power in Congress, continues to count votes in a key Senate matchup between Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and Republican challenger Blake Masters.
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The contentious gubernatorial race between Katie Hobbs (D) and Trump-endorsed Kari Lake (R) hangs in the balance as well, but Republicans still trail in both races, with more than 600,000 ballots still to be counted as of Thursday morning.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Republicans faced uphill battles in other key swing states as well, including Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, where candidates failed to pick up additional seats.
"With the exception of Ron Johnson, who has a long history in Wisconsin, so people know him well, we didn't win anything else in Wisconsin. We didn't win anything in Michigan," Christie said.
"If we can't win in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, we can't win the presidency. It's electorally impossible for us to win the presidency."
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"I heard all the conversation… that Donald Trump used to give to us, which was, 'You're going to do so much winning that you're going to ask me to stop winning because we're doing so much winning, you're tired of it.' Well, we lost the House and Senate in '18. We lost the presidency in ‘20. We lost two seats in the United States Senate from Georgia in ’21, and now in '22, we wildly underperformed historic norms. Seems to me, we should be tired of losing," he added.
Despite handily keeping the governorship with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's sound victory over Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams on Tuesday, the GOP came up short in the Senate race between Rev. Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R), pushing the final decision to a Dec. 6 runoff.
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Kilmeade asked Christie about Trump's 2024 intentions and when he expects the former president to announce his bid for office, but Christie says it depends on his motivations.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"If we want to be the party of us, if we want to get elected again by people like the people of Georgia and be given control of the House and Senate in Washington, then everybody should be focused on Herschel Walker," he said.
"I know that's what I'm going to be focused on, and I hope everybody else from Donald Trump and all around are focused on getting Herschel elected on December 6th."