Kasich: Wouldn’t want presidential run to ‘diminish my voice’

Outgoing Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio), who is known to be considering a run for president in 2020, said Thursday that he wouldn’t want a campaign to “diminish” his voice should he lose.

“In terms of politics, I can’t tell you because I don’t know what the environment is. What I don’t want to do is to try to go back into it again and then diminish my voice,” Ohio Gov. John Kasich says on whether he plans to run for office in 2020 pic.twitter.com/Ih2runaRZE

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 15, 2018

“In terms of politics, I can’t tell you because I don’t know what the environment is. What I don’t want to do is to try to go back into it again and then diminish my voice,” Kasich said at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire when asked if he’d run for president,.

{mosads}Kasich said earlier this month that “all of my options are on the table.”

Running as a Republican would be difficult because that’s “locked down,” he added. “But I think for the first time, there is a legitimate chance for a third-party candidate.”

Should he run again, Kasich could possibly take a significant number of votes away from both Trump and the Democratic nominee, but it would still be difficult to win the White House as a third-party candidate. 

His multiple visits to New Hampshire this year already furthered speculation that he was more seriously thinking about running against President Trump.

New Hampshire holds the first in the nation primary during each presidential election cycle. Kasich came in second place in New Hampshire in 2016 while Trump came in first. 

The term-limited governor has repeatedly criticized Trump, hitting the president over his tone and his policies.