John Kasich is an enlightened convert to the cause of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. Or the former Ohio GOP governor is an apostate Republican.
That’s how some Democrats and most Republicans are likely to view Kasich’s convention speech at the virtual Democratic National Convention Monday night.
“I’m a lifelong Republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country. That’s why I’ve chosen to appear at this convention. In normal times, something like this would probably never happen, but these are not normal times,” said Kasich, 68. “Yes, there are areas where Joe and I absolutely disagree. But that’s OK because that’s America. Because whatever our differences, we respect one another as human beings, each of us searching for justice and for purpose.”
Kasich sought the 2016 Republican nomination, winning only his home state of Ohio, narrowly, but emerging as a sharp critic of President Trump’s style and demeanor.
That reflected a considerable shift from Kasich’s 1983-2001 House tenure. Representing a conservative Columbus-area district, Kasich rose to become House Budget Committee chairman after Republicans in 1994 captured their first majority in 40 years.
In that role, Kasich, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and other House Republican leaders engineered a series of partial federal government shutdowns when President Bill Clinton wouldn’t agree to cuts in the growth rates of Medicare and various social programs. House Republicans were largely deemed losers in the fights, and Clinton easily won reelection in 1996.
After a decade in the private sector, Kasich won the Ohio governorship in 2010, and a second term four years later. His record was fairly standard conservative, but during the latter part of his tenure, he openly split with Trump.
Since leaving office in January 2019, he’s grown increasingly critical. That led him to endorse Biden, the former two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator, with whom he overlapped in Washington for 18 years.
Still, Kasich doesn’t exactly seem to have wooed the Democratic rank and file. A CBS Battleground Tracker Poll from Aug. 12-14 found that among Democrats, 62% said they did not want to hear Kasich speak at the party’s national convention, compared to 38% in favor.
Trump, meanwhile, swiped at Kasich Monday over his Democratic convention speech.
“He was a loser as a Republican and he’ll be a loser as a Democrat,” Trump said on Air Force One. “Major loser as a Republican. I guess you can quote me on that. John was a loser as a Republican. Never even came close. And as a Democrat, he’ll be an even greater loser.”
