Governor hopefuls note differences from John Kasich
Republicans COLUMBUS — running for governor are not only vying against Democrats in their hunt for the party’s nomination but are seemingly running against one of their own, incumbent Gov. John Kasich.
They express their respect for the GOP governor and note how much he cares about Ohio. But such expressions are often followed with a “but.”
They’ve campaigned in particular against the decision of the governor and former presidential candidate to expand Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act. They’ve questioned his lack of support for nominee and then President Donald Trump after dropping out of the 2016 presidential race, and they’ve joined Democrats in criticizing the state’s weak job growth.
Even Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who has the governor’s endorsement, has sought to distance herself from her boss rather than present herself as a logical extension of his administration. She has moved toward Trump on some policy positions.
“I have served with a man who I believe cares deeply about the state of Ohio, and who made the decisions he believed were the best decisions for the state,” Taylor said when she officially announced her candidacy.
“I haven’t always agreed with this governor, but I respect the man and I respect the position, and my disagreements came behind closed doors,” she said.
One disagreement has not remained behind closed doors. She has vowed to roll back the Medicaid expansion Kasich has championed to the program’s original mission of helping the poor, children, and the infirm. Her plans assume a repeal of Obamacare.
A former Ohio auditor and Akron area state representative, Taylor also backed Jane Timken, a supporter of Trump, in her unseating of Kasich-backed Matt Borges as chairman of the Ohio Republican Party.
When asked recently if they were running against Kasich, the newly formed Mike DeWine-Jon Husted ticket was quick to praise the governor.
“When John Kasich was elected to office they faced an $8 billion shortfall in the budget and [the state had] lost 350,000 jobs,” Husted said. “And he brought in a new day that balanced the budget and restored those jobs.
“It’s our job to take it and make it a better tomorrow, to build on the successes that have occurred, and identify the things that need work, and go make it happen,” he said.
But then DeWine, the top of the newly merged ticket, started talking about tough decisions ahead on Medicaid.
“I cannot predict what Congress is going to do,” he said. “I think it’s pretty clear from what is being said that Medicaid, from the point of view of the federal government, is going to be cut. We’re going to be faced then with difficult decisions.”
As DeWine announced the new ticket, he rattled off numbers about the state’s weak job growth in recent years, the same statistics cited by Democrats that conflict with the economic picture the Kasich administration has painted.
Even as he said he has “great respect for Governor Kasich,” U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, of Wadsworth, has chided his fellow Republican lawmakers for not overriding the governor’s budget veto of a provision that would have frozen enrollment into the Medicaid expansion population next year.
Chris Schrimpf, spokesman for the pro-Kasich nonprofit New Day for America and former spokesman for his 2016 presidential campaign, noted the governor and former congressman was the first challenger to successfully defeat an Ohio incumbent governor in decades.
“He won re-election in a landslide and won the Ohio Republican presidential primary in 2016 by double digits,” he said. “Today he remains one of the most popular governors in America because he has a record of accomplishment turning Ohio around.
“Ohio has created over 450,000 jobs, there’s been record tax relief, and the rainy day fund has gone from less than a dollar to over $2 billion,” Schrimpf said. “That’s a record of accomplishment that’s the envy of any officeholder.”
Kyle Kondik, communications director for the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of “The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President,” said that, despite the governor’s general popularity, running to the right of him may make sense in the Trump era.
“According to exit polls in Ohio in 2016 ... Donald Trump did better with people who had an unfavorable view of John Kasich than people with a favorable view,” he said. “[Democratic nominee Hillary] Clinton narrowly carried the 50 percent that had a favorable view ...
“That suggests to me that, by the time of the election, Kasich was basically more popular among Democrats than he was among Republicans,” Kondik said. “That might sound kind of crazy given that, when Kasich was elected, he was a hated figure among Democrats and seemed credibly to be the most conservative governor elected in decades.”
While this strategy may work in a Republican primary, he’s not sure it would help in the general election.
“The general electorate next year is likely to have a fairly favorable view of Kasich,” Kondik said. “Other than his rocky start in 2011, he has been a generally wellliked governor.”