Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday declined to say that President Trump is the national leader of the Republican Party.
“In my mind? Um, I don’t kind of think of it that way, any more than I think who’s the head of the Democratic Party right now,” Kasich said on MSNBC when asked who leads the GOP. “I don’t know.”
“I feel that I have a right to define what it means to be a conservative and a Republican, and there are multiple people who can do that,” he said.
“Obviously, the president is always viewed as being the titular head, but that doesn’t mean I have to go along with that philosophy,” Kasich added.
“I run the seventh largest state in the country,” he said. “I have a right to say what I think it means to be a Republican and a conservative. And I am a conservative.”
Kasich was one of several Republicans to fight Trump for the GOP nomination last year. This month, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump’s victory means he’s earned the right to say he leads the GOP.
“The president is the leader of the Republican Party and was elected by Republicans,” she said.
But Kasich stressed that he has a right to help define conservatism.
“Our budget is balanced, with $2 billion in the hold,” he said. “We’ve grown 479,000 jobs, but at the same time, we’re also helping people who live in the shadows to get out of the shadows and get opportunity. Why is that not conservative?”
