New Jersey's former GOP governor hopes 'all the crazies' win midterms, denounces Republicans as a 'cult'

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New Jersey’s former Republican governor Christine Todd Whitman on Wednesday accused her party of having gone wayward and said a part of her hopes that "all the crazies" win next week’s midterm elections so that Americans will be forced to live with their decision. 

Speaking at an Axios News Shapers event Wednesday, Whitman said she was "fearful" that the midterms would be an ugly election and give way to a "rough two years" if certain far-right candidates are elected to public office.

Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey, speaks during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2, 2018. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"In that time frame there’s a part of me that says, ‘I hope all the crazies do win and everybody has to live with that for a while and see how much they like," Whitman said, before walking back her comments. "But then I realize, no, I don’t want to have to live in that world and I don’t want to leave it for my grandkids, either, the damage they could do." 

She reiterated that if Republicans take the House — as they are widely expected to do — "it’s going to be a rough two years." 

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"It will also give us an opening to really let people know what a difference elections make [and] how important it is to vote and to consider those candidates and to understand what they mean for the future in policymaking," Whitman said. 

Whitman, who was the governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001, said she is still a registered Republican but votes as an independent. 

Former President Donald Trump embraces Arizona Republican nominee for governor Kari Lake during a campaign rally at Legacy Sports USA in Mesa, Arizona, on Oct. 9, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

While discussing the centrist Forward Party, which she formed with former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Whitman accused the Republican Party of having abandoned its principles and of having become a cult.  

"It did not adopt a platform at the 2020 convention. So, there is not a set of central principles on which it’s based. It’s whatever Donald Trump says people should believe at any particular moment," Whitman said. "That’s not my definition of a party." 

Whitman’s comments echo Democratic talking points of the democracy’s supposed impending downfall if "ultra MAGA" Republicans take office. 

President Biden, who has said that "democracy is on the ballot," is set to speak later Wednesday at Washington’s Union State, blocks away from the U.S. Capitol. 

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White House senior adviser Anita Dunn told Axios that the president "will be very clear tonight that he is speaking to people who don’t agree with him on any issues, who don’t agree on his agenda, but who really can unite behind this idea of this fundamental value of democracy." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.