Kasich is considered by some to be a moderate Republican due to his strong condemnation of far-right and populist conservatives and his opposition to
Donald Trump. However, his record in the House and as governor of Ohio has led others to point out that his views place him to the right of most moderate politicians.
Larry Sabato, the director of the
University of Virginia Center for Politics, who has known Kasich for years, says that "If you had asked me in the 90s about Kasich I would have said he was a
Gingrich conservative." Kasich's friend Curt Steiner, former chief of staff to former Republican Ohio governor and U.S. senator
George Voinovich, described Kasich as a "solid Republican" with "an independent streak." Kasich's tenure as governor was notable for his expansion of
Medicaid under the
Affordable Care Act, his work combating the
opioid addiction crisis, his attempt (later reversed by Ohio voters in a
2011 referendum) to curtail
collective bargaining for public sector employees, his local government funding cuts, his passage of several anti-abortion laws, his veto of a six-week abortion ban, his tax cuts, and his evolving position on
gun control.
Abortion Kasich opposes abortion except in cases of rape,
incest, and danger to the mother's life. As governor, he signed 18 abortion-restrictive measures into law. In June 2013, Kasich signed into law a state budget, HB 59, which stripped some $1.4 million in federal dollars from
Planned Parenthood by placing the organization last on the priority list for
family-planning funds; provided funding to
crisis pregnancy centers; The budget also barred abortion providers from entering into emergency transfer agreements with public hospitals, requiring abortion providers to find private hospitals willing to enter into transfer agreements. In December 2016, Kasich approved a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, except when a pregnancy endangers a woman's life, but vetoed HB 493, a
six-week abortion ban. Kasich cited the cost to taxpayers of defending the legislation in court, and the likelihood that the six-week bill would be struck down in federal court as reasons for vetoing the more restrictive bill. In December 2018, Kasich again vetoed a proposed six-week abortion ban, citing the cost to taxpayers and previous rulings by the federal courts. He did sign a bill into law that bans the
dilation and evacuation procedure commonly used for abortion.
Climate change, energy, and environment In a speech in April 2012, Kasich acknowledged that
climate change is real and is a problem. In the same speech, however, Kasich said that the
Environmental Protection Agency should not regulate
carbon emissions and that instead states and private companies should be in charge of regulating
coal-fired power plant emissions. In 2014, Kasich signed into law a bill freezing Ohio's
renewable portfolio standard (RPS) program for two years. Ohio's RPS program was created by 2008 legislation and required the state to acquire 12.5 percent of its energy portfolio from
renewable sources and to reduce
energy consumption by 22 percent by 2025. In his 2015 budget plan, Kasich proposed raising the tax rate on
hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activities. Specifically, Kasich's plan called for imposing a 6.5 percent
severance tax on
crude oil and natural gas extracted via
horizontal drilling and sold at the source (about $3.25 per $50
barrel of oil), and for an additional 4.5 percent tax per thousand cubic feet on natural gas and
liquefied natural gas (about $0.16 per thousand cubic feet). In 2012, Kasich aides planned a campaign with a stated goal to "marginalize the effectiveness of communications by adversaries about the initiative" to bring fracking to state parks and forests, naming in an email the Ohio
Sierra Club and state Representatives
Robert F. Hagan and
Nickie Antonio as adversaries of the plan. The bill places restrictions on the spread of manure and other fertilizers that contribute to toxic
algal blooms and requires large public
water treatment plants to monitor
phosphorus levels. In 2016, in response to a request from
South Dakota under the terms of an
interstate compact, Kasich dispatched 37
Ohio state troopers to
South Dakota, where they were stationed around
Dakota Access Pipeline protests near the
Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. This controversial deployment prompted unsuccessful petitions to Kasich from members of the public,
Cincinnati City Council members, environmentalists, and some state legislators who asked Kasich to recall the troopers. In July 2015, the Kasich administration announced its intent to sell the North Central Correctional Institution at Marion, in order to recoup the state's original investment in the facility and invest the proceeds in community-based alternatives to prison.
Policing standards Following the separate fatal police shootings of
John Crawford III and
Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy in Ohio, while each were holding BB guns, grand juries decided not to indict any of the officers involved. Following this, Kasich created the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board "to address what he described as frustration and distrust among some Ohioans toward their police departments, particularly among the black community." The 23-member task force (with 18 members appointed by Kasich) was appointed in January 2015 and issued its 629-page final report and recommendations in April 2015. The report recommended greater accountability and oversight for police agencies and officers, further community education and involvement in policing, and new use-of-force and recruitment, hiring, and training standards for police agencies. The advisory board, the first of its kind in Ohio, was also tasked by Kasich with developing "model policies and best practice recommendations to promote better interaction and communication between law enforcement departments and their home communities." In August 2015, the board issued its recommendations, which placed "an emphasis on the preservation of human life and restrict officers to defending themselves or others from death or serious injury." In August 2015, Kasich said that he was open to the idea of requiring police officers to
wear body cameras.
Capital punishment As governor, Kasich presided over the executions of fifteen inmates and commuted the death sentences of seven inmates. The last execution in Ohio took place in July 2018. In January 2015, Kasich announced that, due to pending litigation and other issues, he was delaying all seven executions scheduled through January 2016. The delay was largely attributed to European pharmaceutical companies, which have refused to supply the state with deadly drugs necessary for executions. In February 2017, Kasich again delayed Ohio executions for an additional three months, after a federal judge ruled that Ohio's three-drug
lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional.
Executive clemency Kasich used his power of
executive clemency sparingly. He has the lowest clemency rate of any Ohio governor since at least the 1980s, when records began to be kept. In 2011, Kasich signed
sentencing reform legislation which allowed judges to sentence defendants convicted of non-violent fourth- and fifth-degree felonies to "community-based
halfway house facilities" instead of prison; expanded the earned credit system to allow inmates to reduce their sentences; and allowed felons who have already served 80 percent or more of their sentences to be immediately released. In 2012, Kasich signed into law a bill, sponsored by Cleveland Democratic Senator
Shirley Smith and Cincinnati Republican Senator
Bill Seitz, easing the
collateral consequences of criminal conviction. In September 2014, Kasich touted the Ohio's prison system's
recidivism rate, which is one of the lowest in the nation. U.S. Senator
Rob Portman, a Republican, attributed a drop in Ohio's recidivism rate "to the bipartisan work of the state legislature, Governor Kasich, Ohio's reentry leaders and the success of programs made possible at the federal level by the
Second Chance Act," which Portman sponsored. In 2015, Kasich proposed a state budget including $61.7 million for
addiction treatment services for prisoners.
Drug policy Kasich initially expressed opposition to
medical marijuana in 2012, saying "There's better ways to help people who are in pain." However, in late 2015 and early 2016, Kasich said he was open to the
legalization of medical marijuana. In March 2014, in an effort to address the
opioid epidemic, Kasich signed legislation (passed unanimously in both chambers of the state legislature) expanding the availability of
naloxone, a lifesaving antidote to
opioid overdoses. The measure allowed friends and family members of addicts to obtain access to naloxone and for
first responders to carry naloxone. In July 2015, Kasich signed legislation further expanding the availability of naloxone, making it available without a prescription. In a 2015 interview with radio talk show host
Hugh Hewitt, Kasich said he was opposed to the
legalization of recreational marijuana and equated the drug to heroin, stating: "In my state and across this country, if I happened to be president, I would lead a significant campaign down at the grassroots level to stomp these drugs out of our country." When Kasich was asked by Hewitt whether, if elected president, he would federally enforce marijuana laws in states which have legalized marijuana, Kasich characterized it as a
states' rights issue and said that "I'd have to think about it." Kasich opposed Issue 3, an Ohio ballot measure in 2015 that proposed the legalization of recreational marijuana, saying it was a "terrible idea".
Economic policy State budgets and taxation During Kasich's tenure, the state has eliminated a budget shortfall that his administration has estimated at $8 billion, but which the
Cleveland Plain Dealer estimated at closer to $6 billion. (The
New York Times put the number at $7.7 billion). Ohio also increased its "rainy day fund" from effectively zero to more than $2 billion. Kasich "closed the budget shortfall in part by cutting aid to local governments, forcing some of them to raise their own taxes or cut services. And increasing sales taxes helped make the income tax cuts possible." During Kasich's time as governor, Ohio ranked 22nd out of the 50 states for private-sector job growth, at 9.3%. In 2013, Kasich signed into law a $62 billion two-year state budget. The budget provided for a 10-percent
state income tax cut phased in over three years, and an increase in the
state sales tax from 5.5 percent to 5.75 percent. It also included a 50% tax cut for small business owners on the first $250,000 of annual net income. The overall 2015 budget provides a 6.3 percent state income-tax cut as a part one component of a $1.9 billion net tax reduction and lowers the top income-tax rate to slightly below 5 percent. The legislation, championed by Kasich, prohibited all public employees from striking and restricted their ability to negotiate health care and pension benefits. Democrats and labor unions opposed the legislation and placed a
referendum on the November 2011 ballot to repeal SB 5. Kasich and other supporters of SB 5 characterized the legislation as a necessary measure "to help public employers control labor costs" and reduce
tax burdens to make Ohio more competitive with other states, while labor unions and other opponents characterized the bill as "a
union-busting attack on the middle class." On election night, Kasich said in a speech at the
Ohio Statehouse that "It's clear the people have spoken. I heard their voices. I understand their decision. And frankly, I respect what the people have to say in an effort like this."
Balanced budget amendment Kasich has campaigned for a
balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Kasich created a
501(c)(4) group, Balanced Budget Forever, to promote the cause.
Free trade Kasich said in 2016 that "I have never been an ideological supporter of free trade," but has long supported
free trade agreements. He is a strong supporter of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership, and participated with others in a meeting with
President Obama in support of the agreement.
Civil liberties and electronic surveillance In speaking in the 2016 campaign on domestic surveillance, Kasich has "straddled the line," praising
Rand Paul for saying that "we need to get
warrants," but also saying "if there's information they need, the government needs to get it." Kasich has said there needs to be "a balance between good intelligence and the need to protect Americans from what can become an aggressive government somewhere down the road." On one occasion, Kasich spoke out against proposals to mandate that technology companies provide a "
backdoor" for the government to access encrypted devices, saying that this could end up aiding hackers. On a subsequent occasion, Kasich said that encryption was dangerous because it could stymie government antiterrorism investigations. Kasich has condemned whistleblower
Edward Snowden as a traitor. During Kasich's tenure as governor, he pushed to expand charter schools, increase the number of
school vouchers that use public money to pay for tuition at private schools, implement a "
merit pay" scheme for teachers, and evaluate teachers by student standardized test scores in math and reading. Kasich supports the
Common Core State Standards and has criticized Republicans who turned against it. As calculated by the Howard Fleeter/Education Tax Policy Institute, Kasich has proposed total school funding of $8.0 billion in fiscal year 2016 and fiscal year 2017. Analysts disagree "on whether Kasich's education budgets give increases beyond inflation." According to a September 2014 story in the
Columbus Dispatch, Kasich favored allowing public school districts "to teach alternatives to evolution—such as
intelligent design—if local school officials want to, under the philosophy of 'local control.'" In 2011, Kasich had the idea of establishing a
Holocaust memorial on the grounds of the
Ohio Statehouse. Kasich successfully secured approval of the proposal from the Capital Square Review and Advisory Board. The $2 million Ohio Holocaust and Liberators Memorial, designed by
Daniel Libeskind, is located across from the
Ohio Theatre; the memorial was dedicated in 2014.
Foreign and defense policy In November 2002, Kasich urged the
invasion of Iraq, telling a crowd of students at
Ohio State University: "We should go to war with Iraq. It's not likely that
(Saddam) Hussein will give up
his weapons. If he did he would be disgraced in the
Arab world." . In an interview in August 2015, Kasich said: "I would never have committed ourselves to Iraq." Kasich opposed the landmark
2015 international nuclear agreement with Iran, Kasich has expressed support for the U.S.'s
drone program. In November 2015, Kasich said that if elected president, he "would send a
carrier battle group through the
South China Sea" to send a message to China regarding their claims of sovereignty there. Kasich favors strong relations between the U.S. and its
NATO allies. He supported Senator
John McCain's call for maintaining existing
U.S. sanctions on Russia, and condemned the
Trump administration's consideration of lifting sanctions. Like McCain, Kasich supports imposing "tougher sanctions against Russia and Putin's inner circle."
LGBT rights By the mid-2010s, Kasich had shown much more support for LGBT rights than many of his Republican counterparts. However, during his time in Congress, Kasich was much less accepting, and voted for the
Defense of Marriage Act, which barred federal recognition of
same-sex marriage. During this period, Kasich supported a ban on
same-sex marriage in Ohio and stated that he did not approve of the "gay lifestyle." During the
2016 presidential campaign, Kasich struck a more moderate tone compared to his Republican opponents. In June 2015, following the
U.S. Supreme Court's decision in
Obergefell v. Hodges, which held that there is a fundamental right to same-sex marriage under the
Fourteenth Amendment, Kasich said that he was "obviously disappointed" and that he believes in "traditional marriage," but that the ruling was "the law of the land and we'll abide by it" and that it was "time to move on" to other issues. Kasich indicated that he did not support an
amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the decision. In September 2015, Kasich commented on the highly publicized case of
Kim Davis (the
Rowan County, Kentucky clerk who refused to comply with a federal court order directing her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples), saying: "Now, I respect the fact that this lady doesn't agree but she's also a government employee, she's not running a church, I wouldn't force this on a church. But in terms of her responsibility I think she has to comply. I don't think — I don't like the fact that she's sitting in a jail, that's absurd as well. But I think she should follow the law." In a March 2018 interview on
The Rubin Report, Kasich passively came out in support of same-sex marriage saying "I'm fine with it," but stated that he now preferred to show himself as someone in the "
Billy Graham tradition" that "avoided social issues". In December 2018, Kasich signed an executive order extending
non-discrimination protections for
gender identity, including
trans and
non-binary identities, to state employees in Ohio.
Gun policy While in the U.S. House of Representatives, Kasich had a mixed record on gun policy. He was one of 215 Representatives to vote for the
Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which became law in 1994, but voted against the
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act ("Brady Bill"), which established current
background check laws.
Health care Kasich opted to accept Medicaid-expansion funding provided by the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or "Obamacare") in Ohio. This decision angered many Statehouse Republicans, who wanted Kasich to reject the expansion. Total spending on Medicaid by the state was almost $2 billion (or 7.6 percent) below estimates for the fiscal year ending in June 2015, according to a report by Kasich's administration. The lower-than-expected costs were attributed to expanded managed care, shorter nursing home stays and increased in-home care for seniors, capitated reimbursement policies, increased automation to determine eligibility for the program and pay care providers, and an improving economy in the state which allowed some participants to move out of the program. In an October 2014 interview, Kasich said that repeal of the ACA was "not gonna happen" and stated that "The opposition to it was really either political or ideological. I don't think that holds water against real flesh and blood, and real improvements in people's lives." In 2015, Kasich expressed support for many provisions of the ACA (ensuring coverage for people with
preexisting conditions, the use of
insurance exchanges, and Medicaid expansion), but opposed mandates. In 2017, after Donald Trump took office and congressional Republicans maneuvered to repeal the ACA, Kasich criticized Republican hard-liners in Congress who demanded a full ACA repeal, saying that full repeal was "not acceptable" when 20 million people gained insurance under the ACA and that doing so would be a "political impossibility." Kasich urged that the Medicaid expansion be preserved in some form, criticizing the
House Republican legislation that would cut the Medicaid expansion and phase out health insurance subsidies for low-income Americans. Along with three other Republican governors (
Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas,
Brian Sandoval of Nevada, and
Rick Snyder of Michigan), Kasich signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell with an outline of their wishes for a health care bill. Kasich and the others specifically called upon Congress to "end the requirement that state Medicaid programs cover nearly every prescription drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration." Kasich was the only governor at the RGA conference "to express openly a willingness to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants." In August 2015, while running for president, Kasich called for a path to legal status (but not necessarily citizenship) for undocumented immigrants and for a
guest worker program. Kasich also appeared to disavow his earlier stance against birthright citizenship, stating "I don't think we need to go there"; called for completion of a
fence along the U.S.-Mexico border; and noted that
undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as young children may obtain driver's licenses in Ohio. In September 2015, Kasich said that the U.S. had a moral responsibility to accept
refugees fleeing war and violence in Syria. Subsequently, however, Kasich moved to the right, and in November 2015 wrote a letter to President Obama asking that no additional Syrian refugees be resettled in Ohio. Kasich opposed Trump's
executive order on travel and immigration, which Trump signed one week after taking office in January 2017. Kasich said that the order was "ham-handed" because it "sowed so much confusion" and "sent a message that somehow the United States was looking sideways at Muslims".
Lieutenant governor Kasich has a "long-standing political partnership" with his lieutenant governor,
Mary Taylor. In 2014, Kasich defended Taylor after her chief of staff, and that chief of staff's administrative assistant, resigned following a
timesheet probe. Kasich said of Taylor's handling of the matter: "Mary did the right thing and I support her." who sought revenge against Kasich for his choice not to endorse Trump. Nevertheless, Kasich indicated that Taylor had "been a good partner" over his term and indicated that he would support her if she chose to run for governor in 2018.
Racial diversity in Cabinet Upon taking office in 2011, Kasich received criticism for appointing an initial all-white cabinet of 22 members. Responding to criticism for not appointing any black, Hispanic, or Asian Cabinet members, Kasich said: "I don't look at things from the standpoint of any of these sorts of metrics that people tend to focus on, race or age, or any of those things. It's not the way I look at things... I want the best possible team I can get." , four members of Kasich's Cabinet were members of racial minorities.
Transportation Throughout his first gubernatorial campaign, Kasich opposed the
Ohio Hub higher-speed passenger rail project (a proposed 258-mile Cleveland-to-Cincinnati train) and promised to cancel it, claiming that it would average speeds of merely 36 mph. In his first press conference following his election victory, Kasich declared "That train is dead...I said it during the campaign: It is dead." As governor-elect, Kasich lobbied the federal government to use $400 million in federal dollars allocated for high-speed rail for
freight rail projects instead. In a November 2010 letter to Kasich, Transportation Secretary
Ray LaHood wrote that the federal funding was specifically allocated by the
2009 economic stimulus act for high-speed rail, and could not be used for other purposes. In December 2010, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that Ohio would lose the $385 million in grant funds allocated for high-speed passenger rail, since Kasich had informed them that he had no intention of ever building high-speed rail projects. (Almost $15 million had already been spent for preliminary engineering. In April 2015, Kasich signed a two-year transportation budget bill which allocated $7.06 billion for highway construction and maintenance, $600 million to local governments for road and bridge projects, and an additional million over the last budget for public transportation.
Voting rights In February 2014, Kasich signed into law a bill which cut six days from Ohio's
early voting period, including the "golden week" (a period at the beginning of early voting when voters could both
register to vote and cast an in-person absentee ballot). The measures were hotly contested in the state legislature, This measure prompted two
federal lawsuits. The first lawsuit, brought by the
American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio on behalf of the
NAACP and
League of Women Voters of Ohio, resulted in a settlement in April 2015, in which the state agreed to provide evening and Sunday hours for early voting in elections in Ohio through 2018. The second lawsuit,
Ohio Democratic Party v. Husted, was brought in May 2015 by Democratic election lawyer
Marc Elias; plaintiffs argued that the Ohio bill eliminating "golden week" violated the Constitution and the
Voting Rights Act because it disproportionately burdened black, Latino and young voters. The
federal district court agreed and struck down the legislation, but the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed that decision in a 2–1 vote, and the
U.S. Supreme Court declined to
hear an appeal. The veto was celebrated by
voting rights advocates, Ohio Democrats, and the
Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial board, which viewed the proposal as effectively a "
poll tax" motivated by a partisan desire to limit college-town voting. In December 2012, Kasich appointed Judge
Judith L. French to Stratton's unexpired term, which ran from January 1, 2013, through January 1, 2015.
Impeachment of Donald Trump On October 18, 2019, Kasich publicly stated that Donald Trump should be impeached. He had previously said there was not enough evidence to impeach the President. == 2016 presidential campaign ==