Former Gov. John Kasich (R) said he has no interest in launching a doomed primary challenge to President Trump in 2020, The Hill reports.
Said Kasich: “There is no path right now for me, I don’t see a way to get there. Ninety percent of the Republican Party supports him. It may be a shrinking Republican Party but nevertheless.”
Former Gov. Chris Christie writes in Let Me Finish that Gov. John Kasich called him after the New Hampshire primary in 2016:
He asked how I was doing. I told him, okay, considering. “You know what happened to you, don’t you, Chris?” he said.
I told him I didn’t.
“God wanted you to play right field, and you insisted on playing shortstop. No matter how many times God told you to play right field, you insisted on playing shortstop. And last night, you went out to shortstop, and the ball went through your legs.”
Right there, I understood why so many people in politics despised John Kasich.
Former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) told the Iowa Starting Line that he would not run on the same ticket as former Gov. John Kasich (R), as some had speculated.
Said Hickenlooper: “No we’re never going to run together. The guy doesn’t support Planned Parenthood, I’m sorry.”
Matt Welch: “So it’s easy to see the benefits from Kasich’s point of view—regular opportunities to self-promote and criticize the political competition in the run-up to a possible campaign announcement, and you get paid? Sign me up! But the real head-scratcher here is the behavior of CNN.”
“The first cable news network is also frequently the most sanctimonious defender of journalistic nobility, and loudest critic of the way President Trump degrades the norms of America’s political and media culture. And yet here those same people are, paying a newsmaker for exclusivity, and creating a norm that was unthinkable even four years ago.”
Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) is joining CNN as a contributor, serving as an analyst across the network, Axios reports.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) warned in a USA Today op-ed that the GOP “seems stuck in the 1950s.”
Kasich writes that Republicans are “threatened by the new diversity of voices that have joined the public chorus, by the long-ignored problems that a new generation wants to solve, by an unsettled world that no longer follows America’s lead.”
He added: “But they’ve learned absolutely nothing from their skunking in the midterm elections. They didn’t watch, or chose to ignore, the new Congress being sworn in the other day. It was a more energetic, diverse and self-assured group than those chambers have seen before.”
Gov. John Kasich (R) voiced doubts about challenging President Trump in 2020, saying right now he couldn’t beat the president in a Republican primary, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
Said Kasich: “I don’t get into things that I don’t think I can win. And I think right now, today, inside the Republican Party, I can’t beat him in a primary.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) told ABC News that he is “very seriously considering” another White House bid and even raised the possibility of running on a bipartisan ticket.
Said Kasich: “These are earnest conversations that go on virtually every day with some of my friends, with my family. We need different leadership. There isn’t any question about it.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) told the Columbus Dispatch that he remains undecided about another presidential run, but that the midterm election results could suggest a greater opening for an independent or third-party candidate.
Said Kasich: “I know everybody’s wondering how I’m going to make a decision, when I’m going to make a decision. I don’t know, but what’s most important to me is that I can have a voice that can be a healing voice for the country.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) told CBS News that if he runs for president in 2020, he’ll do so as a Republican and not as an independent.
Said Kasich: “I’m a Republican.”
He noted that the Republican Party is in a “tug of war” but ultimately “worth fighting for.”
However, Kasich also said while he supports his party in the midterms, there are a number of Republicans he called “dividers” who he will not be campaigning for.
Bob Paduchik, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, writes a blistering op-ed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer attacking Gov. John Kasich (R).
“It’s 2018 but Kasich is still running for president in 2016. And he is insanely jealous. Kasich cannot come to terms with the fact that President Trump is so popular, he can come to Ohio and draw crowds measured in the tens of thousands. Donald J. Trump can motivate legions of volunteers and countless voters with a single rally appearance.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) told NBC News that he no longer recognizes the Republican Party.
Said Kasich: “The Republican Party has never been for protectionism. The Republican Party doesn’t support a notion that families shouldn’t be held together. The Republican Party never supported the notion that we should ring up debt and put our kids so much in debt by doing things that are not responsible.”
He continued: “The Republican Party has never believed that we should walk away from our allies who have helped us keep the peace since World War II. These positions, they don’t even resemble the Republican Party.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) “has authored five guest columns for news organizations in the last 11 days. Each one critiques Republicans in Washington — mostly Trump, but also Congress — on policy grounds, with Kasich advancing his own ideas.”
“Kasich advisers told BuzzFeed News that the op-ed binge is evidence that he is viewed as a thought leader representing an alternative point of view in the Trump era. But it’s also the latest sign of spadework in what could be Kasich’s third presidential campaign. Kasich has kept his political organization active, met with national security and foreign policy experts to stay fresh on global affairs, and spent considerable time in New Hampshire, the first primary state.”
An article by Gov. John Kasich (R) in Foreign Affairs will only increase speculation that he’s laying the groundwork for another presidential bid:
Although American leaders should always put American interests first, that does not mean that we have to build walls, close off markets, or isolate the United States by acting in ways that alienate our allies. Continuing to do that will not insulate us from external challenges; it will simply turn us into bystanders with less and less influence. I choose cooperation and engagement. Only those who have forgotten the lessons of history can credibly contend that peace and prosperity await us inside ‘Fortress America.’”
“Close allies of John Kasich have reached out to prominent GOP donors to gauge their interest in backing the Republican Ohio governor against President Donald Trump in a possible 2020 showdown,” CNBC reports.
“Kasich has not decided whether he will run for president in 2020, but Republican megadonors have indicated to his top political lieutenants that they are willing to back him over Trump under certain circumstances.”
“A Democratic wave this fall could indicate to donors that a change is needed at the top of the party.”
Gov. John Kasich told CNN he is “unlikely” to challenge President Trump in 2020 as an independent.
Said Kasich: “Am I going to run as an Independent? No, I’m not even thinking about that, It’s unlikely, but when you have options on the table, all options are on the table, right?”
Gov. John Kasich’s (R) “return to New Hampshire this week is likely to get widespread media coverage as a significant milestone toward what many view as his inevitable 2020 presidential campaign,” the Columbus Dispatch reports.
“Kasich’s ‘fireside chat’ Tuesday evening at a college near the state capital of Concord is his only public event… But there will be opportunities to reconnect with the network that propelled him to a second-place finish behind Trump in 2016, as well as connect with new potential supporters disgruntled with Trump.”
Gov. John Kasich (R) said that the Republican Party has “never been my master” and that “all of my options are on the table” for 2020, Politico reports.
Asked if he was ruling out running against President Trump as an independent, Kasich told reporters, “All of my options are on the table. But I’m a Republican, I’m a conservative, and I just want to add to the public debate and do a good job.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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