Facing pressure to leave the presidential race, Gov. John Kasich on Saturday singled out next month’s primary in his home state of Ohio as a make-or-break moment for his campaign.
“I will beat Donald Trump in Ohio, and that will be the beginning of a new day,” Kasich told the crowd at a town-hall-style forum in Nashville, where he was endorsed by Alberto R. Gonzales, who served as attorney general under President George W. Bush.
Tennessee is among the states that will vote Tuesday, a group that also includes Texas, the home state of Sen. Ted Cruz. Ohio’s primary is two weeks later, on March 15, as is the primary in Florida, the home state of Sen. Marco Rubio.
“Some of the other candidates, if they can’t win their home state, they got to get out, OK?” Kasich said at the town hall. “If I don’t win my home state, I’ll get out. But you know what? I’m going to win Ohio.”
Rubio’s campaign has argued that Kasich has no realistic way to win the Republican nomination. Kasich’s campaign, despite his long-shot status and his lower profile in the race, contends that he is the party’s best hope to stop Trump, not Rubio.
A poll released this past week by Quinnipiac University found Trump with a 16-point lead over Rubio in Florida. Another Quinnipiac poll found Trump with only a slight edge over Kasich in Ohio, 31 percent to 26 percent.
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