Rep. Jim Jordan should be ready to move on, said fellow Republican Chris Christie.
Before Mr. Jordan lost his second consecutive bid for the House speaker’s gavel, Mr. Christie, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, told CNBC that he would drop out of the race if the Ohio Republican really lost. He said it should be done.
“My party looks childish,” Christie said on “Squawk on the Streets” of the turmoil within the House Republican Party.
Mr. Christie predicted he would not be able to convert enough of the 20 House Republicans who voted against Jordan in the first round Tuesday. On that first ballot, Jordan received just 200 of the 217 votes needed to become chair.
In the latest vote, 22 Republicans voted against Jordan.
“He has a history in Congress and a lot of relationships, some good and some bad,” Christie said of Jordan just before the vote.
“After this second vote, if he doesn’t get it, I think it’s his duty to do what Steve Scalise did, which is to say, ‘Okay, that’s not me,’ and step aside. Let’s leave it there and see who comes next,”’ he said.
Christie sidestepped a question about whether he thought Jordan should lead the Republican-controlled House.
Instead, he said Republicans’ priority should be to quickly elect a speaker so Congress can address a host of pressing issues.
“What I’m saying is, just hire a speaker. You know, we have support for Israel, we have support for Ukraine, we have support for Taiwan, we have border security, we have the budget and we need to get everything done. .And none of this can be accomplished without speakers,” he said. He said.
“So let’s call someone and move on.”
But Mr. Christie said he did not support the idea of electing Rep. Patrick McHenry (R.N.C.) as speaker pro tempore as a stopgap measure to allow the government to perform its essential functions.
“If he does one thing they don’t like, he’s out and we’re back in this barrel,” Christie said, referring to the far-right Republican leaders who led the effort to oust the last House speaker. “I’m going to go back inside,” he said.Kevin McCarthy, Republican, California
Mr. Christie has been a vocal opponent of former President Donald Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, and Mr. Trump has endorsed Mr. Jordan for chair.
In an interview with CNBC, Mr. Christie criticized Mr. Trump and other major rivals, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and right-wing entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, on foreign policy and other issues.
National polls show Mr. Christie is far behind these candidates, especially Mr. Trump, who has consistently maintained a large lead over them.
Christie said he believes the race will change in the 100 days leading up to the first nominating contest as voters in key primary states begin to pay more attention.
