Before John Kasich became Ohio governor in 2011, he hosted a folksy weekend commentary show, Heartland with John Kasich, on Fox News.
Mr. Kasich’s show aired Saturday nights for seven years, and was broadcast directly from the “heartland” — Mr. Kasich’s hometown of Columbus.
The former governor gave up that platform to run for office, but has quickly — and not unexpectedly — returned to cable news. CNN announced Tuesday that it signed Mr. Kasich as a commentator, hours before his first appearance on Cuomo Prime Time.
The jump from Fox to CNN is not unusual given Mr. Kasich’s standing among Republicans. He entered office as a conservative but became known later for his Medicaid expansion.
He also gained a reputation for clashing with President Trump, a rivalry that began when Mr. Kasich challenged him for the GOP presidential nod in 2016.
Since then, he’s held back little in critiquing the President and the GOP. He accused Republicans this week of failing to keep up with the times.
“Perhaps [Republicans] think denial is protection from the change that swirls around them,” Mr. Kasich wrote in a USA Today op-ed published his first day out of office. “No doubt they’re threatened by the new diversity of voices that have joined the public chorus, by the long-ignored problems that a new generation wants to solve, by an unsettled world that no longer follows America’s lead.”
As a Republican and Trump critic, Mr. Kasich had become a sought-after commentator on news programs, appearing frequently on NBC’s Meet the Press. It fueled speculation that he would return to hosting his own show.
On Monday, as Mr. Kasich was preparing to attend the inauguration of his successor, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, news broke that he had signed with United Talent Agency, a company with a roster that includes a slew of CNN hosts and commentators.
While Mr. Kasich’s next steps in media have taken shape, his presidential aspirations are less clear.
Mr. Kasich has said he’s thinking about another White House run, either as a Republican or independent. In November, he returned to New Hampshire, which hosts the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. It’s where Mr. Kasich gained momentum in 2016 after finishing second in its nominating contest behind Mr. Trump.
In recent weeks, Mr. Kasich has done little publicly to advance his 2020 prospects. He has said he wouldn’t run unless he thought he could beat Mr. Trump, which is unlikely given the difficulty of challenging a sitting president for his party’s nomination.
“The President is certainly much more popular in his own party than John Kasich is in the Republican Party,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball and author of The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President. “Kasich would kind of be a gadfly protest candidate.”
Mr. Kasich is used to being on the outs with Republicans in his own state party. The Ohio GOP shifted favor to Mr. Trump after his resounding Ohio victory in the general election. Former chairman and Kasich ally Matt Borges was later ousted by Trump supporter Jane Timken.
During the midterms, Mr. Kasich kept his distance from GOP campaigns, and was a no-show at the Republican state dinner featuring Mr. Trump.
On the Democratic side, candidates are beginning to enter the 2020 presidential contest field. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was the first to officially join. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown has said he’s considering a run, and is planning a trip soon to Iowa, according to reports.
“The only way for Governor Kasich to have an opportunity to be the one who appeals to the electorate is if the era of Trumpism comes to a deleterious end,” Mr. Borges said.
First Published January 15, 2019, 9:24 p.m.
