ROCKVILLE, Md. – Republican John Kasich, expected to trail Donald Trump by about 10 percentage points in Tuesdays’ Maryland primary, told supporters in a suburb of Washington Tuesday that his budget experience makes him more qualified to be president than any other candidate – GOP or Democrat. And many in the audience agreed, citing his experience on Capitol Hill.
The Ohio governor, who is expected to trail fellow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump by 10 percent in Tuesday’s primaries according to Fivethirtyeight’s polls-plus forecast, focused on job creation at a town hall meeting of 500 supporters.
“When the debt goes up, job opportunities go down,” Kasich said, explaining how his experience balancing budgets as both a governor and a congressman has prepared him to lead the country. In Congress, he was chairman of the House Budget Committee and a longtime member of the Armed Services Committee.
“People talk about [Democratic presidential candidates] Bernie [Sanders] and Hillary [Clinton], they got all these nice plans for free stuff,” Kasich said. “I’m all for free. But the problem is, for the young people here: “You go to college, you want to get a job. With all the free stuff they want to give away, the projected debt will be $30 trillion,” up from the current $19.25 trillion.
His budget experience was not lost on eventgoers such as guy Jeffrey Broadman, who said that he remembers Kasich on the House Budget and Armed Services committees. Broadman and his wife brought their 11-year-old son to the town hall.
“It’s a civics lesson for this little guy,” he said. “He’s particularly engaged this election.”
Frederick County resident Walter Olson believes that Maryland Republicans will recognize Kasich’s strengths, saying “Maryland knows that the budgetary experience and the Armed Services (Committee) experience make him the strongest candidate that will not need training on the job.”
Olson previously worked on Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s campaign and said Kasich and Hogan would work together to help the state.
“They are both pragmatic, they are both budget experts, they both look for the center politically and are not trying to divide people. This is a lot of the secret to Gov. Hogan’s success. He looks for ways to find allies rather than looking for people to insult or to polarize. And this has been Gov. Kasich’s style all along,” Olson said.
To Winston Wilkinson, Kasich’s challenge ahead of Tuesday’s primary is clear: “He’s a reasonable conservative so I think his challenge is convincing those people who are angry — because you have to be more than angry. He’s got me sold but he’s got to convince other people. But I’m hopeful [for tomorrow.]”
Kasich told the GOP supporters that they also need to look beyond the next president in trying to get things done in America.
“The president won’t fix your schools. Maryland is neighborhoods. Maryland is communities. You want to get your schools fixed; what are you waiting on?” Kasich asked. “I think part of the problem is we’ve lost our spirit, our confidence in the fact that we can solve things ourselves.”
Kasich did not address Monday morning’s announcement of a partnership between him and fellow Republican candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, aimed at denying Trump the nomination. But at least some in the audience were curious about the tactic, including 17-year-old Rockville native Philip Ipe.
“It’s my first time voting, and I haven’t really heard of a lot of town halls going on around here,” Ipe said. “I know he’s teamed up with Cruz to take down Trump, which is something I find interesting. I haven’t heard of that happening before. A lot of Republicans definitely don’t want Trump in office, I guess, but we’ll see how that goes.”
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