Ohio Governor John Kasich said Sunday that the Ohio special election “doesn’t bode well” for the Republican party, The Hill reports.
“It’s really kind of shocking because this should be just a slam dunk and it’s not. It really doesn’t bode well for the Republican party because this… shouldn’t even be contested.”
Kasich’s comments come just one day after president Donald Trump visited the state, holding a rally, and expressing support for fellow Republican Troy Balderson.
“He’s really tough. He’s really smart. He never stops working,” Trump said, as the Inquisitr reported. The fiery rally would perhaps not be unusual if not for the president’s claims that he has “destroyed” the careers of Republicans who have dared get in his way.
John Kasich sided with Trump, supporting the same candidate. However, as CNBC noted, the two are often at odds with each other. The reason for this conflict lies in the fact that Kasich has, according to CNBC , tried to establish himself as a centrist fiscal conservative.
Kasich supports free trade, while Donald Trump continues to impose tariffs. The Ohio Governor has also expressed support for federal and state Medicaid insurance for low-income Americans, as well as certain gun control measures. Kasich has criticized many of Donald Trump’s policies, focusing mostly on tariffs.
Donald Trump got back at Kasich, calling him a “dud,” and a “failure,” insulting the Governor for being too soft on illegal immigration, an issue Trump appears to consistently maintain a hardline stance on.
Kasich warns dead-heat special election “doesn’t bode well” for GOP https://t.co/jER0qO10eQ pic.twitter.com/3R92CrC2vR
— The Hill (@thehill) August 6, 2018
Apart from stating that the Ohio special election “doesn’t bode well” for the GOP, Kasich made another interesting comment today, once again criticizing president Trump. As USA Today reported, according to Kasich, Donald Trump is hurting the Republicans’ chances of winning the Ohio special election, because the “chaos” surrounding the POTUS has “unnerved a lot of people.”
Mainly, it has unnerved suburban women and Millenials. Still, Governor Kasich does not think the Republican party candidate Troy Balderson will lose. Balderson, the Governor claims, will benefit from his Democratic opponent’s “weak” candidacy.
“The problem the Democrats have is I don’t know what their message is. It’s sort of like anti-Trump but no message. You can’t win elections if you don’t have a message,” he concluded.
The Democrats may or may not have a coherent message, but according to GOP strategist Mike Murphy, the Republican party will suffer because it has become the party of Donald Trump. As The Hill reported, Murphy described Trump as a potential “anchor” around Republicans’ necks in November primaries.
