Karen Kasich, First Lady of Ohio, Joins Husband John for 2016 Announcement

Karen Kasich, the first lady of Ohio, boosted her husband’s campaign Tuesday along with the couple’s twin daughters when the family joined Gov. John Kasich on stage as he announced his entry into the crowded field of 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls.

John R. Kasich, 63, was flanked by Karen and their 15-year-old daughters, Emma and Reese, on stage inside the student union building at Ohio State University as he told the gathered crowd that he has “the experience and the testing — the testing which shapes you and prepares you for the most important job in the world,” according to The New York Times.

During the course of his 43-minute speech, John Kasich talked about how dear Karen was to him and how much he loved her, as well as how wonderful it was for him to be inside the delivery room during his daughters’ births, according to The Washington Times. The governor’s family is expected to play a prominent role in campaigning for the presidential election.

John and Karen, who is 12 years his junior, have been married since 1997. This is Kasich’s second marriage after his first ended in a divorce in 1980. The two met more than 25 years ago at an Ohio State University football game, after which John, then a representative, told his chief of staff, “I've just seen the most beautiful woman I've ever seen,” according to the International Business Times. The two dated for eight years before they married.

Karen, nee Waldbillig, graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in communications, and she worked for a number of years in healthcare, public relations, and marketing before climbing the corporate ladder to become the vice president at GSW Worldwide, according to the International Business Times. She later left that position in order to care for her two daughters.

As a rather late contender in the presidential race, John Kasich has quite a bit of catch-up work to do as one of the lesser-known political candidates with only 2 percent of Republican-backing at the moment, according to The New York Times. In order to clinch a spot in the Aug. 6 Republican debate in Cleveland, John must fall within the top 10 spots in the polls.

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