Chris Christie has spent a lot of time in recent months lecturing fellow Republicans on how to “rescue” the GOP. His book on the topic infamously flopped, and his other big intra-party project isn’t going any better.
Here’s a little quick background:
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Back in September, Christie, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and veteran strategist Karl Rove were tapped to lead the GOP’s national redistricting efforts. As co-chair of the National Republican Redistricting Trust (NRRT), Christie told the media that he was dedicated to securing fair maps.
“Democrats will stop at nothing to gerrymander Democrats into permanent majorities. They believe the courts should pick the winners and losers in our elections and that the ultra-liberal representatives they put into office will pass their radical left-wing agenda,” the site’s webpage explains in text overlaying headshots of Christie and Pompeo. “Governor Chris Christie and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo know how important it is that we fight back against the Democrats’ nationwide power grab.”
It’s not going so well.
“There aren’t many breaks Dems *haven’t* caught in redistricting so far,” The Cook Political Report‘s Dave Wasserman observed on Friday. “Sure, you can point to commission maps in AZ/IA/MT, or that MD Dems didn’t pursue the 8D-0R gerrymander Steny Hoyer wanted. But the big questions (CA, NJ, MI, OH, AL, NY, NC) have gone their way.”
Wasserman isn’t overstating the point.
Republican maps in Ohio (3 weeks ago) and North Carolina (on Friday) were tossed by the courts. The New York map is so bad for Republicans that the party could lose three seats in the Empire State alone. Meanwhile, in New Jersey, the N.J. Supreme Court just backed a Democrat map and Christie-nominated “Republican” justices went along with it; the NJGOP is still favored to gain one seat, but three others (NJ-03, NJ-05 and NJ-11) went from legitimate toss-ups to lean Democrat seats overnight.
The end result: even if a “red wave” surfaces in November, Democrats are building a firewall which will at the very least significantly limit GOP gains and possibly help Nancy Pelosi (or her successor) retain the House gavel for Democrats.
Meanwhile, NRRT’s website seems to reflect the organization’s lack of momentum. Its Twitter page is “protected” and a new press release hasn’t gone up since Christie and Pompeo were announced as co-chairs approximately five months ago. The group is reportedly pursing a legal challenge in New York but it’s undeniable that the entire 2022-centric midterm mission is off to a disastrous start.
No one with an ounce of Christie knowledge should be shocked. The New Jersey Republican movement atrophied under Christie’s stewardship as the governor reached accords with Democrat party bosses and focused on his ultimately failed 2016 presidential bid. The New Jersey Republican State Committee bled money financing Chris Christie’s travel tab and spent valuable, finite party resources boosting the cause of the state gas tax.
Christie apologists are few and far between in 2022, but the few still remaining inside the party establishment might do well to ask themselves what value the ex-governor still brings to the cause.
