Getty Former Ohio Governor John Kasich.
John Kasich will soon leave the governor’s office in Ohio after serving two terms in the Buckeye State as a Republican. He ran for president in 2016, but managed to win only Ohio during the primary against Donald Trump.
As an outspoken critic of the current president, Governor Kasich has continued to prompt speculation that he will challenge President Trump again in 2020. He met with a billionaire investor in April 2018, he released another book in 2017, and he is a frequent guest on the political talk show circuit. He has yet to officially confirm that he’s taking another shot at the White House in 2020.
But Heavy has learned from a source close to the Kasich administration that Governor Kasich is planning to launch a presidential campaign. The unanswered question may just be whether he runs as a Republican or as an Independent. Our source informed us that “all indications are that he is going to make the run.” It would be more of a surprise at this point if Kasich did not run.
Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) participates in a news conference with Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) (not pictured) to discuss the Senate health care reform bill, at the National Press Club, on June 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.
Our source says that the initial game plan appears to be to test the waters first as a Republican candidate. If Kasich does not pick up a lot of traction, then he would more than likely run as an Independent instead.
The outcome of the Russia investigation could play a decisive role in that decision as well. If Special Counsel Robert Mueller unveils findings damaging to the president and the administration, then Kasich would more strongly consider challenging President Trump in the Republican primary.
If the investigation concludes without implicating the president of wrongdoing, then Kasich would lean more towards running as an Independent. We want to stress, our source close to the Kasich administration says this is what appears to be the game plan, but the only person who knows for certain is Governor Kasich himself.
It doesn’t take political courage to do the right thing.
Governor Kasich may have issued another clue on November 14, 2018. He tweeted a video of himself with the caption, “It doesn’t take political courage to do the right thing.” The clips are from a recent speech he delivered at Buckeye Lake. It sounds like the beginnings of a campaign. It had been viewed more than 13,000 times in less than three hours. The video is embedded above.
Kasich starts the video with a metaphor, referring to his decision to expand Medicaid in Ohio. He uses the example of a dam; if the dam was about to break, and people could die in the process, then the logical thing to do would be to fix the dam. Kasich argues that fixing the dam does not equate political courage, but just common sense.”
Kasich goes on to say that he and his team “don’t really care that much about politics… At some point, a leader has to make a decision. Our problem with our country is they won’t make any decisions about anything that’s difficult. They said we had courage when we expanded Medicaid amid fierce opposition so people could have health care who were caught in the cracks. Is that a tough decision? Piece of cake. Piece of cake to fix the dam, piece of cake to do that. Piece of cake to fight to balance the budget.”
The next portion of Governor Kasich speech was to discuss bringing people together. He stressed that whether a person is rich, poor, a minority, that “all of us are brothers and sisters to one another.” (He’s Protestant and has a reputation for being deeply religious). “If we can together think about our neighbors, our brothers and sisters, treat them the way we want them to treat us. What a formula for great success and for progress and for some sort of peace in our lives. We all struggle, we all have our challenges. And the rains come at different times in our lives. We just have to hang together and do the right thing. Figure out what’s wrong, solve a problem, help the people, it’ll be nothing but blue skies ahead.”
Looking forward to being back in New Hampshire to speak about America’s divisions and what each of us can do to make a difference where we live. And to see some old and new friends!
The release of the video happened during Governor Kasich’s visit to New Hampshire. This is a major indication as well that he is planning to run for president because New Hampshire holds the first primary election in the country. Kasich finished second in the New Hampshire primary in 2016.
