John Kasich Biography

John Kasich is the Ohio governor, former Congressman and former TV chat show host who ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016.

John Kasich was first elected Congressman from Ohio’s 12th district in 1982. In 1999 he announced his intention to run for president, on a platform including a 10% cut in federal income taxes. Kasich never formally declared his candidacy and gave up the bid in July of 1999. He stepped down from his Congressional seat in 2001 after 18 years in office. An outspoken conservative, he went on to host his own political opinion show, The Heartland with John Kasich, on the Fox News Channel.

John Kasich then returned to Ohio and was elected governor in 2010, defeating Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland. Kasich was reelected in 2014, and in 2015 began a run for the GOP nomination for president. He was the last remaining competitor to Donald Trump to drop out of the race (which he did in May of 2016), leaving Trump the presumptive GOP nominee.