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Ohioans will have a hometown horse in the race as we all dash headfirst through goofy political coverage toward next summer’s RNC.

Gov. John Kasich, to nobody’s surprise, will formally start his campaign for the presidency on July 21 at the Ohio State University. Kasich did campaign for the presidency in 2000 but dropped out early after failing to match former President George W. Bush’s fundraising efforts. Kasich has spent the past few months traveling in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Iowa — all early battleground states for the primary election. 

Politico first reported Kasich’s plan to join a crowded field of more than a dozen candidates for the Republican nomination, and soon enough JohnKasich.com began offering tickets to the event at OSU’s student union on July 21 and a link for the live steam.

Kasich joins a field of Republican hopefuls that includes current poll leader and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Right now, Kasich lags behind the field in the national and New Hampshire Presidential Primary polling averages, according to Real Clear Politics. 

Kasich’s first goal will be to move from 13th in national polling average into the top 10 to qualify for the first Republican presidential debate on August 6. Fox News will broadcast the debate and announced that only the top 10 candidates according to national polling average will qualify. Kasich has two weeks to accomplish this and failure to do so could prove embarrassing as the debate is held in his home state.

Two of the top five Republic candidates did see polling averages steadily rise after formally announcing a candidacy for the presidency. Real Clear Politics shows Rubio averaged 7.3 percent on the day of his announcement, April 13, and 30 days later, saw his poll numbers reach 13.2 percent. Ben Carson’s poll numbers jumped from 5.0 percent to 9.2 percent 30 days after announcing his candidacy.

Kasich has reason for confidence in his candidacy after a landslide victory over Ed FitzGerald in Ohio’s gubernatorial race in November 2014 and Ohio’s role as an influential swing state. Kasich has hired two political brains who worked under Sen. John McCain’s campaign — strategist John Weaver and advertiser Fred Davis. 

This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2015.

By day, Tyler Singleton studies journalism at Kent State University. By night, he pledges to serve and protect the public as a Geek Squad Agent. Tyler has been “waiting for next year” his entire life and even this love for Cleveland sports led to his name: Tyler as in Ty Detmer, another mediocre Browns quarterback. Tyler’s work has been published by the Kent Stater, Kent State’s newspaper and KSUbuzz.com, Kent State’s arts and entertainment website.

2 replies on “Ohio Gov. John Kasich Begins Presidential Run July 21”

  1. Mr. Kasich would prove to truly be different than the typical career politician by resigning his current post when he makes the announcement to join the ridiculously crowded primary derby. Running for elected office while comfortably sitting in one is a cowardly act from bums who are hedging all bets, because the public is paying for all the chips during the game.

  2. Mr. Kasich in my opinion is the best republican running, he is totally in touch with all walk’s of life. he definitely has my vote.

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