Republican John Kasich, the former Ohio governor, has expanded his political nonprofit organization, signaling the group could function as a launchpad for a 2020 primary challenge against President Trump.
The advisory board for Two Paths America, led by Kasich, this month added prominent Never Trump Republicans such as Bill Kristol, a conservative journalist, and Jennifer Horn, former chairman of the New Hampshire GOP. Other Republican faces often critical of the president, such as actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and ex-Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, also joined the board.
Veteran Kasich aide Beth Hansen runs Two Paths America out of Columbus, Ohio. Republican sources say the organization has raised “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” They characterized the group as a platform to maintain Kasich’s national viability should he decide to run for president, but stopped short of describing it as a front for a pending 2020 campaign.
“It’s an outgrowth of folks that first worked together during the Kasich campaign,” said Tom Rath, a Republican operative in New Hampshire who supported Kasich when he ran for president in 2016.
Nevertheless, the group’s website includes the disclaimer “Paid for by Kasich for America,” the name of his 2016 presidential campaign organization.
Republicans acquainted with Two Paths America said the group could be used to lend policy and financial muscle to a Republican other than Kasich who might choose to primary Trump next year. Rath, an advisory board member, emphasized that the organization does not exist simply to further Kasich’s presidential aspirations. “It’s not a stalking horse,” he said.
Kasich, 66, who battled with Trump during the Republican primary four years ago, emerged as a particularly virulent critic of the president after he was inaugurated. Despite the high approval ratings Trump receives from GOP voters, Kasich and a small group of Republican politicians are eyeing the 2020 primary but waiting to see if the legal and political controversies swirling around the president make him vulnerable to an intraparty challenge.
Special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his investigation without bringing any charges against Trump. But Kasich, whose second term ended in January, has yet to rule out a bid, either via the GOP primary, or as an independent. Kasich confidants say he is unlikely to run absent a clear path to victory.
In the interim, Two Paths America serves as a facilitator of Kasich’s larger ambitions — to shape the national debate, push back against Trump’s nationalist makeover of the Republican Party, and possibly, run for president. He personally recruited the board, mostly Republicans like him who have been outspoken in their opposition to Trump and see in the former Ohio governor a leader be able to counter Trump.
An Ohio Republican insider, requesting anonymity in order to speak candidly, said Two Paths America is a way for Kasich’s loyal supporters to stay active on his behalf, just in case he decides to make another run at the White House. “Let’s not close any [possibility] out, because you never know,” is how this GOP operative described what was motivating many members of the group’s board.
Other center-right organizations to have sprouted in the Trump era in an attempt to either offer an alternative to the president’s brand of conservative populism or lay the groundwork to dominate the future of the GOP in the post-Trump era. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, recently launched Stand For America.
The Kasich group bills itself as an incubator of center-right policies, and Republicans involved say they want to present a civil, welcoming version of Republicanism that they believe stands in contrast to the president’s provocative, base-driven politics.
“After the midterm elections, and a lack of innovative policy ideas coming out of Washington, it’s become increasingly clear that we need to design center-right solutions on issues that will improve the lives of Americans,” Jo Ann Davidson, a Two Paths America board member, says in a statement on the group’s website.
Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that Two Paths America is not a new group, but rather, that new members were appointed to its advisory board.
