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In a candid discussion on Sunday, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie highlighted the significant impact President Trump’s unpopularity had on the Republican Party’s poor performance in the state elections last year. Speaking in an interview on WABC radio’s “Cats Roundtable,” Christie attributed the GOP’s setbacks to their association with Trump.
Democrat Mikie Sherrill decisively defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli by a margin of 14 percentage points, a result Christie believes was heavily influenced by Ciattarelli’s ties to the former president. The fallout extended to the New Jersey Assembly, where Republicans lost five seats, marking one of their worst performances in recent history.
“It was an absolute disaster,” Christie remarked, reflecting on the electoral outcome. “We lost the governorship by 14 points. We lost five seats in the New Jersey General Assembly, which means that we’re now at the lowest number since Watergate.” His comments underscore the challenges the GOP faces in a state that seems increasingly difficult to navigate politically.
Christie, once a staunch Trump supporter, described the situation as “a desperate time in New Jersey,” expressing concern over the party’s ability to secure victories. “We forgot how to win,” he admitted, signaling a need for the party to reassess its strategies and connections.
“It is a desperate time in New Jersey,” the former Trump ally said. “We forgot how to win.“
Trump, Christie said, was an albatross for Ciattarelli and GOP candidates in the Garden State.
“The problem for Jack Ciattarelli was when he tied himself so close to the president, a lot of independents in New Jersey were turned off by that,” the former governor said.
“For the first time in a long time, the Republican candidate for governor actually lost independents to the Democrats. If that happens, you have no chance of winning because there are 850,000 more Democrats than Republicans in the state,” Christie said.
“The fact is that the president is not nearly as popular in the state of New Jersey as he is in other parts of the country. Jack made himself 100% MAGA. That was something that really, really hurt him… It turned out not to be just a small loss, but a huge one.”
Christie noted that New Jersey has sky high corporate taxes, property taxes and income taxes.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if [the New Jersey Democrats] raised taxes again this June,” he said.
But New Jersey is still a slightly better alternative than New York, he said.
Sherrill is not hard-left Democratic socialist like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Christie noted.
“[New Jersey] a very tough place but I bet you it will be better than New York,” he said.
Christie served as governor from 2010 to 2017, the only Republican elected as the Garden State’s chief executive in the 21st Century.
He ran for president twice in 2016 and 2024, but Trump prevailed each time.
Christie was hurt by the “Bridgegate” scandal, which saw Fort Lee residents infamously plagued by lengthy delays to access the George Washington Bridge.
Two of his associates were convicted over a scheme to shut off access to the bridge to punish Fort Lee’s Democratic mayor, who’d refused to back Christie’s reelection bid in 2013.
The Supreme Court ended up tossing the convictions for the two aides in 2020, ruling that the saga didn’t violate federal law.
Christie, a former US Attorney, has long denied any involvement in the “Bridgegate” scandal.
But he had a falling out with Trump, who last year taunted Christie over the scandal after the former governor criticized him for politicizing criminal investigations.