John Kasich

John Richard Kasich Jr. ( KAY-sik; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and was a candidate for the presidential nomination in 2000 and 2016. Kasich was born and raised in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. He moved to Ohio in 1970 to attend Ohio State University and graduated with a bachelor's degree.

After a single term in the Ohio Senate, he served nine terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 12th congressional district. His tenure included 18 years on the House Armed Services Committee and six years as chair of the House Budget Committee. Kasich was a key figure in the passage of both 1996 welfare reform legislation and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

Kasich decided not to run for re-election in 2000 and ran for president instead, but withdrew from the race before the Republican primaries. After leaving Congress, Kasich hosted Heartland with John Kasich on Fox News from 2001 to 2007 and served as managing director of the Lehman Brothers office in Columbus, Ohio. He ran for governor of Ohio in 2010, defeating Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland. He was re-elected in 2014, defeating Democratic challenger Ed FitzGerald by 30 percentage points.