With Donald Trump expected to announce a new White House bid Tuesday night, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was applauded when he criticized the former president in front of Republican governors and donors Tuesday morning, insiders say. Sources tell Axios that Christie, speaking to the annual meeting of Republican governors, blamed Trump for disappointing election results in 2018, 2020, and 2022, saying voters "rejected crazy" in last week's midterm elections. He said bad candidates had cost the party races in states including Pennsylvania, where Doug Mastriano, who won the GOP primary for governor with Trump's support, lost to Democratic rival Josh Shapiro by nearly 15 points.
The Republican Governors Association meeting was held in Orlando. Trump is expected to make his announcement at 9PM Eastern at Mar-a-Lago estate, less than 200 miles away. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wasn't at the event in the morning, when attendees included Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, per Axios. Ducey will be succeeded by Democrat Katie Hobbs, who narrowly defeated Kari Lake, another Trump choice. According to Axios' sources, Ducey "applauded heartily" after Trump's remarks.
Christie, who confirmed last month that he is considering his own 2024 White House bid, also criticized Trump on Monday, saying the "only winning that has been done since Donald Trump has been president is for Donald Trump." He noted that Republicans had lost the House in 2018, followed by the White House and the Senate in 2020. "And in 2022 we vastly underperform historic norms given inflation and gas prices and crime and a president at 40%," he said, per the Times of London. "I’m tired of losing." (More Chris Christie stories.)
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