Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says Republican party needs to move past 2020 election

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) retained his strategy Monday of trying to move Republicans past the Donald Trump era and the contentious 2020 election even as the former president remains a force in next year’s contests.

“There always are a lot of voices,” Mr. McConnell said at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit, when asked about Mr. Trump’s role in the midterms. Keeping his focus on recapturing the Senate, which is split 50-50, Mr. McConnell said that if he were advising Senate candidates, “I’d be talking about what this administration is doing and how do you feel about it, because the American people are looking to the future.”

Gov. Chris Christie remained guarded when asked about his opinion on Trump running in 2024. When asked if the country needs another four years of Trump in the White House, Christie replied: “That’s all up to the voters.”

“What I’d say, is, that it depends,” Christie said. “If he is going to spend time talking about the last election, I don’t think that’s the type of leadership we need, but that’s up to him.” He added: “What comes out of his mouth is up to him.”

Trump, in an exclusive interview with Fox News last month, said he will “probably” wait until after the 2022 midterm elections to formally announce whether he will run for president in 2024. Trump told Fox News that timeline was “probably appropriate” but didn’t promise to stick to it.

“A lot of people are waiting for that decision to be made,” Trump told Fox News, adding that “a lot of great people who are thinking about running are waiting for that decision, because they’re not going to run if I run.”

“We have a lot, they’re all very well named,” he said of the GOP White House hopefuls. “But almost all of them said if I run, they’ll never run.”