LAS VEGAS (AP) — Fresh off a strong showing in last week’s elections, some of the nation’s leading Republicans expressed newfound confidence this weekend that they were well positioned to retake control of Congress next year and ultimately win back the White House.

Speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a potential presidential contender in 2024, boasted that Democrats were “freaking out” after losing the Virginia governor’s race and nearly falling short in New Jersey. Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, called Tuesday’s strong showing “a tsunami” and a “precursor of really great things to come in 2022.”

The Republican strength in Virginia and New Jersey last week was fueled by candidates who deliberately kept Trump at arm’s length and successfully turned out rural conservatives who make up the former president’s base, while also appealing to suburban voters who had abandoned the party in recent years. That could provide a model for GOP success in future elections.

But Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who may run for president again in 2024, warned that would only happen if GOP leaders, including Trump, focus on the future instead of re-litigating the past.

Republicans have “extraordinary opportunities over the next few years,” Christie said, but only if they offer voters “a plan for tomorrow, not a grievance about yesterday.”

“We can no longer talk about the past and the past elections, no matter where you stand on that issue — no matter where you stand — it is over. And every minute that we spend talking about 2020,” he said, was “wasting time.” The party needs to “take our eyes off the rearview mirror and start looking through the windshield again.”