Once considered by many to be the future of the Republican party, Chris Christie is now too toxic for the very people who helped put him in power. | AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster As Christie era wanes, Jersey GOP has little to show for it

As Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno vied for last-minute votes over the frenzied final days of the New Jersey governor’s race, Chris Christie never showed up on the stump. In fact, the governor has not appeared in public once to support Guadagno, who has been by his side for more than eight years.

With Christie’s approval hitting 14 percent among likely voters in a recent poll, it’s not hard to not see why. Once considered by many to be the future of the Republican party, Christie is now too toxic for the very people who helped put him in power.


But for the GOP in New Jersey, Christie’s political legacy goes beyond the traffic jam that helped destroy his reputation and his star-crossed alliance with Donald Trump. It isn’t just about a public distaste for the governor. Christie, some say, put his own future ahead of his party — openly embracing Democrats when he could have extended coattails to Republicans.

“I think Chris Christie has destroyed the Republican brand in New Jersey for a political generation,” said Matt Hale, a professor at Seton Hall University.

Christie was beaten down by the bridge scandal, left behind as a second-tier presidential candidate, fired from Trump's transition team and passed over for the job he wanted in the administration.

Then, in July, he sat on a state beach that he had closed to the public in the midst of a government shutdown, and thumbed his nose at anyone who questioned the optics of his family vacation.

By any measure, Christie is a politician at rock bottom. A staggering 84 percent of voters in New Jersey say he has had no major accomplishments since taking office, according to a poll released Monday. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out” is how Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind describes the findings of the survey.

For Republicans in New Jersey, the governor’s public image is, in itself, a lot to overcome. But, arguably, Christie did little to boost the party when his image burned bright.

After defeating Democrat Jon Corzine in the 2009 election, Christie set out to win the support of as many local officials as possible — especially Democrats. He dangled goodies, from NFL tickets to steel from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, in front of mayors of both parties. He stood side-by-side with many Democrats in the run-up to his re-election in 2013.

After a landslide victory that year, Christie went on to bigger things: He hit the road to help his party as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, his colleagues back home left to fend for themselves. Between his RGA work and his run for president, Christie at one point spent most of a year outside New Jersey. He also used state party money to help with Bridgegate legal bills and to pay for jet flights around the country.

Even after winning two elections in a state with 800,000 more Democrats than Republicans, his party gave up a half-dozen seats in the 120-member Legislature, giving more power to Democrats, who were already in solid control.

And now, as his hand-picked lieutenant governor fights to keep alive her shot at winning the governorship today — polls showing trailing Democrat Phil Murphy by double digits — Christie is nowhere to be found.

His absence from the political scene was especially noticeable over the weekend as Guadagno and Murphy, crisscrossed the state in get-out-the-vote efforts that could prove key in what’s likely to be a low-turnout election.

As Murphy got a boost from musician Jon Bon Jovi, a former Christie supporter, Guadagno brought in some big-name surrogates of her own — the first she’s had since the race began.

There was Tom Kean Sr., Christie’s political mentor and the most popular governor in the state’s history. And Christie Whitman, a Republican who led state government for most of the 1990s, was with her on Saturday.

But at no point did the state’s sitting governor show up. Guadagno dodged questions about why her boss wasn’t there, putting her emphasis on today's election.

“This campaign is about me and my record and my values,” Guadagno said in an interview on Saturday, echoing remarks she made in her primary victory speech five months ago.

Christie had already made clear the ball was in Guadagno’s court. “If I’m asked for help, I’ll certainly give it,” Christie said over the summer. “I have not been asked for any help.”

The governor has used his perch to play attack dog, employing his rhetorical-might to rip into proposals presented by Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive and U.S. ambassador to Germany who wants to raise taxes, legalize marijuana, offer free community college and create a “fairer economy for all.”

But the governor has also laid into Guadagno, a former federal prosecutor and county sheriff he had plucked from obscurity in 2009. At times, it seemed he was intentionally working to undermine her political efforts.

When Guadagno announced her running mate in July, Christie held his own news conference the same time and told reporters that running mates “don't matter” and that it wasn’t clear whether the race could be competitive.

In September, in an interview with POLITICO, Christie said he doubted one of the biggest proposals of Guadagno’s campaign could actually work, openly questioning her claim that an audit of state government could find some $1 billion in savings and pay for much of her plan to reduce property taxes.

“I just fundamentally disagree with her on that,” Christie said. “It’s not there.”

The governor’s supporters deny he’s done anything but help the GOP in New Jersey. He’s raised large sums for many Republicans — including Guadagno — during this election and has campaigned for a number of Republicans who needed a boost.

The GOP gained a seat in the state's congressional delegation after redistricting, and now has six Republicans and six Democrats, said Mike DuHaime, Christie’s long-time political strategist. The party held on to the extra seat until last year, when Scott Garrett lost to Josh Gottheimer.

DuHaime also argued that the legislative map is rigged against the Republicans, making it hard for the party to hold on to its seats in the Legisalture. And, despite what polls say, the average Republican in the state will eventually realize that Christie’s policies were good for the state, he said.

“Wait until they see what it’s like in six months if we’re not successful [Tuesday],” he said. “People don’t realize how good they’d had it.”

Assembly minority leader Jon Bramnick points to a cap on property tax increases, reform of the state bail system and efforts to shore up the state pension system, which in the end fell short of their stated goals but improved the solvency of the funds.

Whatever damage that had been done to the Republican party in New Jersey is not a result of Christie, he argued, but rather the relentless focus by the media on the Bridgegate scandal. While the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge were carried out by several allies of the governor acting in his name, Christie was never charged and maintains he had nothing to do with the episode.

“I cannot prevent the media, in a Bridgegate situation, from spending a year beating up Chris Christie every night on television,” Bramnick said. “Once you get caught up in this negative media world, it’s hard to come back. Negative sells.”

For Guadagno, that has meant an awkward dance between claiming she has a successful legacy as the lieutenant governor — helping to create jobs and cut spending — and putting space between her and the governor.

After years of ribbon-cuttings and not taking questions from the press, Guadagno last year began to criticize the governor after he backed a 23-cent increase in the state’s gas tax. She has found a few other areas over which to disagree with him, but has preferred on most days to just avoid discussing the governor.

Sitting in a diner booth on Saturday with Whitman, she repeatedly dodged questions about the governor, his legacy and his absence from the campaign trail. At one point she said he was in Indiana on Saturday, so “that’s the answer.”

Pressed again whether she had asked him to campaign, a spokesman interjected: “Think next four years,” he said. “It’s about the next four years.”

When the reporter asked Guadagno to answer, the candidate said she had. Told she hadn’t, Guadagno grew irritated.

“Oh, yes, I did. Yes, I did,” she said, before getting up from the booth and ending the interview.

Katherine Landergan contributed to this report