Kasich quitting presidential race

John Kasich is suspending his bid for the White House, The Hill has confirmed.

The Ohio governor will make the announcement about his campaign at 5 p.m. on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, his campaign said. Kasich abruptly canceled a news conference planned for Wednesday morning outside Washington, D.C.

{mosads}This follows Kasich’s third-place finish in Indiana, where GOP front-runner Donald Trump dominated with a landslide victory.

Kasich agreed to cease campaigning in the Hoosier State to clear a path for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in an effort to stop Trump from getting the needed delegates to secure the nomination. 

But Cruz suspended his presidential campaign Tuesday night after a devastating loss to Trump. Cruz and Kasich had already been mathematically eliminated from winning the nomination on the first ballot.

During his victory speech in Manhattan, Trump — now the presumptive GOP nominee — declared that Republicans will win in November and called on the party to coalesce around him and unite.

Kasich trailed Trump by almost 900 delegates. But he previously vowed to stay in the race in the hopes he could emerge as the party’s nominee in a contested GOP convention this July.

The Ohio governor often trumpeted general election polls where he was the only GOP candidate to defeat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the fall.

Kasich won just one state during the race, his home state of Ohio, and failed to gain traction in the Midwestern and Northeastern states that he had predicted would propel his candidacy. Kasich ended up with fewer delegates than Marco Rubio, who ended his own campaign in mid-March after he lost his home state of Florida.

The governor tried to set himself apart from the rhetoric of the Republican field, repeatedly saying that he would not “take the low road to the highest office in the land.” 

Most swing-state polls found Kasich with the best chance of vanquishing either Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, a point that his team cited repeatedly as they sought to keep his candidacy alive.

As the sitting governor of the state in which the Republican National Convention will be held, Kasich is likely to have a role — and possibly a speaking slot — in the July event. Those speculating about potential vice presidential candidates include Kasich on the list, although the former Congressman has, while he was a presidential candidate, rejected such talk.

Jonathan Easley and Lisa Hagen contributed.

— This post was updated at 1:34 p.m.