The four candidates vying to be the Republican nominee in next year’s governor’s race sat down for separate 20-minute interview on Sunday night in a Columbus church before a crowd of more than 500 people. One theme in particular stood out, and it was about the man they all want to succeed.
The most telling moment of the forum happened when moderator and Republican pollster Frank Luntz turned to the audience with two questions: “Who’s got a favorable impression of John Kasich, your governor?” There was slight applause.
“Who has an unfavorable impression of him?” he asked next. The applause was appreciably louder and was accompanied by cheers.
The forum was sponsored by Citizens for Community Values, a conservative Christian group that’s fought against abortion rights and same-sex marriage, among other causes.
It’s no secret that Kasich has a less than positive image with some conservative voters – some because of his support for Medicaid expansion, and others because Kasich has publicly feuded with President Donald Trump and refused to endorse him.
These voters are likely to turn out for next May’s primary. So the four Republican candidates for governor are all interested in speaking directly to them.
Current Rep. Jim Renacci of northeast Ohio was the first on stage, and therefore the first to address Luntz’ question about the direction of the state under Kasich’s leadership. Renacci said Kasich started out “perfect,” but when he ran for president and lost, Renacci said he also lost his conservative values.
“This is problematic,” Renacci said. “We cannot have a governor who comes in with Republican values and goes out with Democrat values or independent values and think that the state is going in the right direction.”
Attorney General Mike DeWine said he’s known Kasich for most of the nearly four decades he’s been in public office, and praised him – at first.
“I think by and large he’s done a very good job,” DeWine said.
But DeWine, who built part of his campaign on his lawsuit against five prescription painkiller makers, was quick to add that as governor he’d change the state’s approach to the opioid crisis.
DeWine said he wants to appoint a cabinet member “who will focus every single day when they get up till the time they go to bed, I hope, on the opiate problem and the drug problem. We have not had a sense of urgency.”
As Kasich’s two-time running mate, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor has been closer to Kasich than the other three candidates by far. Kasich said earlier this year that he would endorse her. But Taylor made it clear she has significant differences of opinion with her boss, particularly on Medicaid expansion.
“Some of the decisions made have not reflected what I consider to be good, conservative values,” Taylor said.
As head of the state’s insurance department until March, Taylor was a leading voice against the Affordable Care Act. She said she worked to make sure Ohio didn’t set up an insurance marketplace as other states did.
But she faults Kasich for his decision to expand Medicaid – which she suggests is tantamount to support for Obamacare.
“The governor, obviously, has publicly advocated to keep,” Taylor said. “I personally think that Obamacare needs to be repealed. And I think that we need a state solution.”
Kasich has worked with Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, on a plan that he says would stabilize the insurance markets until the Affordable Care Act can be repealed and replaced.
Secretary of State Jon Husted got to weigh in, too, and brought it back to Republican voters who may have cast primary ballots for Kasich last year but expected him to back the GOP’s presidential nominee in the end.
“People have been really frustrated that he didn’t go to Cleveland and support him in the convention, support Trump in the convention,” Husted said. “That he seemingly’s been trying to, with his words, kind of not support the president or maybe even undermine the president on occasions, that he’s not focused on Ohio as he once was.”
This was the first forum where all four Republican candidates were present, though they weren’t on stage at the same time. They had all been confirmed to attend the party’s state dinner in July, and all but Taylor appeared for short speeches. And none of those speeches mentioned Kasich at all.
