Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to announce his candidacy for president on July 21, a spokesman confirmed.
The Republican will make what his political team is billing as a “special announcement” from the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, capital city of the Buckeye State. Kasich has created a website that supporters can visit to request tickets for the event or donate to the governor’s presumed presidential campaign.
Kasich, 63, re-elected overwhelmingly to a second term last year, would become the 15th or 16th major Republican to declare for the 2016 presidential race. The governor’s resume includes a stint as House Budget Committee Chairman in the 1990s and time as a Fox News television host. He has a reputation as a fierce tax cutter and budget hawk. But he also has accused Republicans of sometimes acting immoral in their zeal to shrink government.
It is on those grounds that Kasich accepted the expansion of Medicaid under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, although he declined to create a state exchange where Ohioans could purchase health coverage envisioned under Obamacare. The first debate of the 2016 GOP presidential primary takes place in Cleveland, and to qualify, candidates must be officially declared candidates and rank in the top 10 according to the national polling averages.
On Monday, Kasich ranked 13th, with 1.6 percent support. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was leading the pack with 13.8 percent.
Disclosure: The author’s wife works as an adviser to Scott Walker.
