Barbara Buono Gives Scathing Speech Criticizing Fellow Democrats

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono slammed members of her party Tuesday after losing the race to Republican incumbent Chris Christie.

In her concession speech, Buono praised supporters who "withstood the onslaught of betrayal from our own political party."

"The Democratic political bosses, some elected and some not, made a deal with this governor," she said, according to NorthJersey.com. "They didn’t do it for the state. They did it out of a desire to help themselves."

Over the course of the 2013 campaign, several Democrats in New Jersey crossed party lines and backed Christie's reelection bid, including Sea Bright, N.J. Mayor Dina Long, state Sen. Brian Stack (D-Union City), Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, and Spring Lake Mayor Jennifer Naughton.

Buono's last-minute campaign efforts also came with little involvement from President Barack Obama or other high-profile Democrats. Obama included her in a final-push email encouraging Democrats to head to the polls, but according to the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger, that left some irritated Dems questioning whether Obama did more for Christie. The duo had a notable embrace back in May at an event to promote tourism post-Hurricane Sandy, while Buono was in the audience and only able to meet with the president before his speech.