WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama congratulated New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, on Wednesday on his landslide re-election victory.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on an Air Force One flight carrying Obama to Dallas that Obama and Christie had spoken by phone a day after Christie's victory.

Christie, a moderate and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, defeated Democrat Barbara Buono, who did not get much help from Obama in her uphill battle to defeat the Republican.

Obama and Christie bonded in the aftermath of the superstorm Sandy that swept across New Jersey a year ago when the Democratic president gave a well-received show of concern that may have helped him win re-election over Republican Mitt Romney. Obama and Christie visited the Jersey Shore together in May to promote the area's recovery from the storm.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)