Ohio Gov. John Kasich warned Sunday the red state’s special election Tuesday to replace retiring GOP Rep. Pat Tiberi is shockingly close — and that “doesn’t bode well for the Republican party.”
In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” the Republican governor predicted a narrow win for Troy Balderson in the contest with Democrat Danny O’Connor — but blamed the tight race on “the chaos that seems to surround [President] Donald Trump” that’s “unnerved a lot of people.”
“Suburban women in particular here are the ones that are really turned off,” Kasich said. “And you add to that millenials, you have it very close. It’s really kind of shocking because this should be just a slam dunk and it’s not.”
Democrats have “a weak candidate because there’s no message,” he declared.
“It’s likely in the end that Balderson should be able to win narrowly,” he said. “But it’s pretty surprising. It really doesn’t bode well for the Republican party because this… shouldn’t even be contested.”
The governor also said Balderson didn’t invite Trump to a campaign event Saturday.
“I asked him, I said, Troy, why did you invite Trump in here, the president?” Kasich said. “He said, ‘no, I didn’t.’ I think Donald Trump decides where he wants to go and I think they think they're firing up the base.”
“At the same time that he comes in here, I was with some women last night who said, ‘hey, you know what, I'm not voting,’ and they're Republicans, ‘I’m not voting for the Republicans.’ This is the problem the party has now.”
Kasich also called Trump a “divider,” but said he doesn’t believe there was any racism in a controversial tweet that denigrated Ohio native and NBA star LeBron James.
“The party has shrunk because we don't have this positive growth-oriented opportunity message,” he said. “I ended up doing a tweet about that, not only did I say that LeBron should be praised… but I also disagreed with the president because you know what, all around, LeBron is a little better than [Michael Jackson].”
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