The Party Goes to Bat for Kasich in Ohio

Since making his debut in Ohio politics 38 years ago as a 26-year-old with a bowl haircut and a penchant for lecturing party elders, John Kasich has been elected nine times as a congressman and twice as governor. He won 86 of 88 counties when he was re-elected in 2014. Kasich’s counting on his home state to stick with him and keep his long-shot bid for the White House alive in its March 15 primary.

He has a unique advantage: the active support of Ohio’s state GOP. The party, run by close allies, helped him pay for trips to New Hampshire and South Carolina in the months before he announced his campaign. In January the party threw its support behind Kasich, breaking 64 years of neutrality in the presidential nominating process. (The last endorsement went to Robert Taft, in 1952.) Only one other candidate this year had the backing of a state party—New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose home state GOP got behind his candidacy.