Kasich warns that GOP faces trouble with suburban voters

WASHINGTON — Delivering yet another sign that he will seek the presidency in 2020, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said today’s Republican Party has “left me” by opposing immigration and being willing to tolerate massive budget deficits.

During an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Kasich insisted he was “still a Republican” even as speculation mounts that he may run as an independent presidential candidate instead of challenging President Donald Trump in the Republican primaries as he did in 2016.

“Look, I didn’t leave the Republican Party; the Republican Party left me,” Kasich said, complaining that some Republican officials say “Kasich is not a conservative.”

“What does that mean?” Kasich asked. “Does that mean I have to be anti-immigrant, anti-trade, in favor of debt?” Instead, he urged Republicans to “come on home. Come home to where we basically live.”

“We’re pro-immigrant,” Kasich said. “We’re pro-trade. We’re pro-growth. ... We should care about people from top to bottom. Not just those at the top, but everybody.”

“I can bring that party back,” Kasich said. “That’s what I’m going to do in one way or another,” although he declined again to say whether he would run for president.

While Kasich boasted that he has balanced budgets in Ohio and is opposed to rising federal deficits, his decision in 2013 to accept hundreds of millions of Medicaid dollars made available through the 2010 health law known as Obamacare added to the federal debt.

Kasich’s appearance on CNN capped off a weekend in Washington, D.C., that featured a schedule more suitable for a presidential candidate in 2020 than an Ohio governor.

He attended a posh reception Friday evening at the home of David Bradley, owner of The Atlantic magazine and National Journal, a gathering that included Defense Secretary James Mattis; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; and Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. On Saturday night, he was a guest at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner.

Kasich sketched out an independent path toward the presidency when he said “the hard left and the hard right” of the two parties “only absorb those they agree with. God bless them, maybe we can come back and rescue them later.”

“But there’s a big ocean of people in the middle who are up for grabs,” Kasich said. “These are people who are objective, these are people who are rational, and these are people who seek the truth.”

He said he told people in conversations during the correspondents’ dinner not to “identify yourself. Be yourself, be an American, and care about being rational, objective and seeking the truth because we are almost in a posttruth environment.”

Kasich said the harsh rhetoric from Trump and many GOP lawmakers is alienating suburban voters. Kasich said a “number of people who live in the suburbs, including women who have traditionally voted Republican, are very uncomfortable with” the divisive talk.