The biggest winner not on the ballot Tuesday was Gov. Chris Christie.
As the head of the Republican Governors Association he played an outsized role helping GOP contenders take power in Democratic strongholds such as Maryland and Illinois.
His hyperactivity in the run-up to Election Day earned him many IOUs that could come in very useful if he makes a bid for the White House in 2016, as most observers expect.
Christie’s role in the victories was significant. He traveled to 37 states to stump for the party’s candidates, and he raised $106 million to spend on races — a record for the RGA.
On Tuesday, Christie’s RGA rode a nationwide Republican wave to a better-than-expected outcome, expanding the number of GOP governors nationwide from 29 to 31.
“He’s got a great national profile, he has the ability to raise a lot of money, and he’s the guy who’s able to campaign in literally every area of the country,” said RGA Executive Director Phil Cox on a call with reporters Wednesday. “He’s one of best communicators in our party, and he demonstrated that time and again.”
When he took the reins of the RGA last year, few people doubted that he would try to use the post to launch a presidential bid.
At the association’s conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., however, his line was that he was focused on winning governors races, at least for the time being.
“2016 is a long way away, and I’m two weeks out of a campaign,” Christie told reporters back then. “I’m not looking to start speculating about other campaigns already. We’ve got 2014 to deal with, that’s what we’re going to deal with.”
Indeed, as a Republican governor from a Democratic-inclined state, Christie was able to campaign successfully in other blue states, such as Maryland, where Republican Larry Hogan achieved a stunning upset.
Christie’s visits to Maryland were not without political upside, of course. He was able to his fight directly to the turf of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat who is also making moves to run for president in 2016.
And on many occasions Christie was able to swing through key presidential nominating states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, although he proclaimed to do so only on official RGA business.
Along the way, he established a network that will benefit him greatly in a bid for the highest office.
“If he decides to run for president, obviously he would have met a lot of people who could help him: party leaders, elected officials, donors, on a very large scale and in a multitude of places,” said former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a former RGA chairman.
Cox said he could foresee a Republican presidential primary with many Republican governors, although he did not point to Christie in particular.
“I think that’s the kind of leadership we need in this country, and we certainly have a broad and deep bench to draw from,” Cox said.
It would be little surprise if Christie is on that roster eventually, with his RGA stint at the top of his resume.
“One of the best things that Chris Christie did is he absolutely swore off running for president this year and made it very plain to everybody that his only political job in 2014 was to be chairman of the RGA and elect other Republican governors,” Barbour said. “He was very faithful to that pledge.”
