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.”
“I’m sick of politics.”
— Gov. John Kasich (R), quoted by the Associated Press.
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Gov. John Kasich’s (R) inner circle “is gearing up for a possible presidential run in 2020 — actively weighing the prospect of a Republican primary challenge to President Donald Trump against the feasibility of a long-shot general election campaign as an independent,” Politico reports.
“And there’s one consideration driving their thinking perhaps more than any other: what some of his advisers consider the very real, maybe even likely, possibility that Trump doesn’t run again — by choice or not — or that the president becomes so politically hobbled by late next year that the political landscape fundamentally shifts in Kasich’s favor. That’s one reason Kasich has yet to decide whether to pursue an independent bid or a primary challenge.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer: “A pro-Second Amendment section of John Kasich’s website was removed Sunday, after the Republican governor appeared on CNN and said reasonable gun control measures should be enacted following last week’s deadly Florida school shooting.”
Gov. John Kasich’s (R) “brand is built around the idea of ‘two paths’ for the Republican Party: one for center-right pragmatists like him, the other for flamethrowers like Donald Trump,” BuzzFeed News reports.
“But as the Ohio governor considers a rematch with Trump in 2020, he is weighing two more-tactical paths. Does he challenge Trump, the sitting president, in primaries where Kasich won’t find much institutional GOP support? Or does he leave the party, go down a route littered with ballot-access hurdles and fundraising challenges, and run as an independent?”
“Sources close to Kasich’s political team have told BuzzFeed News in recent weeks that both options are in play.”
President Trump tore into Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), a GOP rival and potential 2020 primary challenger, at a RNC dinner last night, Politico reports.
“The president went after the Ohio governor several times by name, according to three people who were present. The president mocked Kasich, who is being termed-out of office and fell short in the 2016 GOP primary, and described him as one of his loudest and most relentless critics.”
Gov. John Kasich will return to New Hampshire in April, the Concord Monitor reports.
The news “will once again fuel rumors that he’s considering another White House bid in 2020.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Wonk Wire, Political Job Hunt 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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