Christie says Republicans could face ‘shelacking’ in 2026 midterm elections

WASHINGTON — Former Gov. Chris Christie delivered a dismal projection for his party in next month’s midterm elections, had harsh words for his fellow Republicans, and offered a suggestion on how the GOP could succeed in the post-Donald Trump era.

Speaking as part of an interview series led by former CNN Washington bureau chief-turned George Washington University professor Frank Sesno, Christie offered a dismal projection for his party in next month’s midterm elections, harsh words his fellow Republicans, and a suggestion on how the GOP can succeed in the post-Donald Trump era.

Christie said he expected Democrats to win a U.S. House majority with about 228 seats (10 more than needed) and possibly the Senate too with as many as 52 seats.

A recent Quinnipiac poll gave Trump a 34% job approval rating among registered voters, his lowest ever. They disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy, 65% to 31%; Iran, 66% to 28%; foreign policy, 62% to 34%; artificial intelligence, 58% to 25%; and China, 53% to 34%.

More than half of registered voters, 51%, said they wanted a Democratic majority in the House, to just 39% who favored continued GOP control.

Christie said Republicans are heading for a massive defeat when they have to campaign to shore up Senate seats in places like Kansas and Nebraska. Should the GOP candidate lose in either place, it’s “Armageddon” for the party.

“There’s one thing in losing majorities, and that will be very bad for the Republican Party and the immediate future if the Democrats would take both the House and Senate,” Christie said. “But if, in the process, you lose seats in Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, that’s a whole different level of political trouble, because those are states that regardless of what was happening in the overall atmosphere would vote Republican.”

He likened it to a Democratic president worrying about losing Senate seats in California and New York.

Christie said results in Maine, New Hampshire and Ohio, where polls close early, will help forecast what kind of a night it will be for his party.

“If those go all Democrat, that means we as a party are in for a very tough night and a president, whether he wants to come to grips with is or not, is in for a political shelacking.”

He said the best the Republicans can hope for is losing just three Senate seats and a 50-50 chamber. But that would be the worst for Vice President JD Vance, a likely 2028 GOP presidential candidate, who “will be sitting in the United States Senate in the chair, breaking ties, rather than being in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina,” Christie said.

Christie singled out Alaska, where Democratic challenger Mary Pelota’s chances of winning have increased by the addition of a second Dan Sullivan in addition to Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.

“That is a total Jersey move,” Christie said. “We, in fact, are suing for trademark violations on that move.” 

As for Texas, which hasn’t had a Democratic senator since June 1993, the race would be over if U.S. Sen. John Cornyn had won the Republican primary, Christie said. Instead, Trump endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Republican voters gave him their nomination.

“Paxton is amongst the worst candidates in every aspect of candidacy that I’ve seen in the last 10 years,” Christie said. “Look, he’s been impeached for corruption as Texas attorney general; he’s had multiple extramarital affairs, which led to the breakup of his marriage; and he’s lazy, doesn’t like to campaign, and he doesn’t like to fundraise, but other than that  a model candidate. Just on the merits he should lose.”

Christie said he was not a supporter of Democratic nominee James Talarico, who leads Paxton by 2.4 percentage points in the Real Clear Politics poll average, but if he loses, “ even though it’s in Texas, he’s got to live the rest of his life knowing he lost to Ken Paxton.”

As for Trump telling Republicans they should pretend he is on the ballot this fall, that “would be like a DNC ad.” The president’s approval ratings have dipped into the 30s.

“That’s what the Democratic committee wants voters to believe, that Donald Trump is on the ballot,” Christie said. “Someone asked me earlier, ‘Does he know the difference between truth and falsehood? He absolutely does. He just chooses falsehood and tries to convince you it’s true.” 

The problem with his party is that his fellow Republicans liked the trappings of power too much to stand up to Trump and criticize him, knowing it could cost them their jobs, Christie said.

“They are frightened people who care more about their titles than they care about doing their job,” Christie said.

He cited the case of the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (D-South Carolina).

“Graham stood on the floor of the United States Senate on the night  of Jan, 6 and said, ‘I’m through, I’m done. I can’t take it anymore. I am finished with Trump,’ until he went out, played golf with him the next time.

“On balance over his career, I think Lindsey did more good for the country than ill, but the end of his life, in my view, was not a testimony to character. He’s an example of what’s happened to the rest of our party, scared and intimidated by Donald Trump, but for God’s sake, I need to be called congressman, for Heaven’s sake, I need to be called senator.”

As for the future of the party after Trump, Christie said what’s most important is to unify the GOP around “character matters.” 

“I’ll be engaged in this argument one way or the other, that the single most important issue is character, and if we don’t get character, right, you can’t expect that the person you hire for this job is going to get anything else right,” Christie said.

“If we get character wrong, I don’t care what you say about inflation, I don’t care what you say about Iran, because I can’t trust you to be telling me the truth. Donald Trump said no more forever wars, where are we? Donald Trump said he’s getting lower prices on day one, where are we? Donald Trump said he was going to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours.  Where are we? He got them wrong, because he never meant them in the first place. He thought that’s what was popular to say, he said it to get elected, and then when he got there, he couldn’t get it done.”

Christie said that President Barack Obama offered something different, and he hoped someone in the Republican Party would do the same.

“My party, I hope, will find the leader who’s willing to be different, willing to take the risk, because that means you risk losing, if you do it and it doesn’t work,” Christie said. “Don’t worry about Congress, because they will follow. That’s who they are, they are not leaders in the main, they are followers. If they wanted to be a leader, they would have been a mayor or a governor or a president. They wanted not to take accountability for anything so they joined a legislature.”