Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich stipulated that he would not be able to beat President Donald Trump in a Republican primary challenge in a Wednesday interview.
“I don’t get into things that I don’t think I can win,” Kasich told an Ohio audience Wednesday. “And I think right now, today, inside the Republican Party, I can’t beat him [Trump] in a primary.”
The Ohio governor continued that he didn’t necessarily have to be a candidate for president in 2020 in order to be a voice speaking out against Trump.
Ohio Governor John Kasich speaks as he withdraws as a U.S. Republican presidential candidate in Columbus, Ohio, U.S., May 4, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk – S1BETCEHIXAB
Kasich has been a vocal opponent of Trump since the 2016 presidential campaign and floated as a possible rival to the president in the 2020 presidential campaign. Kasich consistently appears on cable TV to criticized Trump.
Kasich has said much of the same in recent days, telling the Associated Press, “if you’re going to run as a Republican you have to have a sense that if you get into primaries you can win. Right now, probably couldn’t win,” adding, “but that’s today. It’s ever-changing.”
Ohio Governor John Kasich (R-OH), speaks to reporters after a closed meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, on February 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The Ohio governor floated the idea of running for president in 2020 as an independent candidate in a recent appearance on The View.
“I think, for the first time, there is a legitimate chance for a third-party candidate,” he told the TV program. “If you have the Republicans on the extreme and the Democrats on the extreme, there’s a big, wide open space in the middle.” (RELATED: Kasich Just Mapped His Exit Strategy From The GOP)