Ohio Gov. John Kasich has rushed toward the center as his Republican primary opponents mover farther right in the 2016 presidential race.
While political outsiders continue to rule the roost of the Grand Old Party, Kasich has conducted a series of interviews casting himself as the cutthroat political contest’s moderating influence who rankles party leaders.
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“Guess what? The establishment is afraid of me because I don’t take orders from anybody over there. It’s not K Street kind of telling me what to do, we make these people nervous,” Kasich told MSNBC. “We’re not anti-establishment, but at the same time we don’t like the status quo and we really believe in change.”
The governor then shifted gears and noted that he would be in Vermont and Massachusetts on Saturday, when South Carolina Republicans vote in their primary. He also listed a series of states where he hopes to perform well, including Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Kasich claimed to have begun building a team in the Deep South and added that he had “the whole establishment pretty much locked down in Mississippi.”
But on Wednesday night’s “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the governor struck a much different tone and said, “The Republican party is my vehicle — it is not my master.”
Kasich admitted to MSNBC he does not expect to win South Carolina, but urged anyone who supports him to never give up their wishful thinking.
“For everybody that has some hope that I can win, just keep your seat belts fastened, there’s a long, long way to go and we’re very hopeful,” Kasich said. “Just everybody keep the faith.”
