Bad candidates and Democrats who were “more fired up” were the reasons former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave as to why the GOP fared so badly on Nov. 8.
“I think the way you explain it is that there are a number of factors that got Democrats more fired up than people thought and that the poll demonstrated,” the Republican said about the GOP’s lackluster midterm performance during the Nov. 13 episode of This Week on ABC.
REP. ANDY BIGGS EXPECTED TO LAUNCH LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE AGAINST KEVIN MCCARTHY
“We also nominated some bad candidates, especially on the Senate side,” Christie continued. “But that’s something we’ve been talking about since the summer.”
Christie added that a lot of people, including him, believed the poor performance of the economy, crime, and other areas would override any concerns Republican voters had regarding subpar candidates, including those described as election deniers.
“There were a lot of Republicans who did not vote for those election deniers because if they had, they would have won,” Christie said.
He also pointed out that independents were sending a message to the Republican Party saying they weren’t going to vote for candidates who supported Trump-style rhetoric and conduct or denied elections.
“Trump is dragging the party down,” Christie said. “I think what Republicans came to grips with Tuesday night was we’re tired of losing and we’re tired of Donald Trump dragging us to lose because of his personal vanities.”
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The former New Jersey governor also said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) would get the speaker’s gavel.
“That means he’ll control the committees. He’ll control who the chairman are,” Christie said. “And that will be a good thing for Republicans to control that.”
