MANSFIELD — Ohio governor and presidential candidate John Kasich reminded Mansfield voters Saturday night of his positive campaign, a tactic his supporters see as a reflection on the presidential hopeful’s nature.
Kasich stopped in Mansfield at The Gorman-Rupp Company before moving on to other Ohio communities just two days before the state’s primary.
“I represent you. I represent Ohio. And I want you to know I will never take the low road to the highest office in the land, I will run a positive campaign,” Kasich said amid roaring applause. “I will never create a toxic atmosphere where people show up at political events and fight one another.”
Kasich’s positive campaign and outlined plans garnered him support in many of Saturday night’s guests — even before he spoke Saturday.
“I like his positive attitude,” Ohio State University senior Max Conrad said before the town hall meeting. “He has plans to increase jobs and his views on healthcare are good too. I like how he’s expanded medicaid in Ohio.”
Mansfield resident Jay Byrd said he likes Kasich for his “substance,” a trait he has not seen in the other candidates.
“I actually voted for him (Kasich) today,” Byrd said.
Ashland resident Kevin Shores said Kasich has the policies and ideas that will get the country back on track. A former employee of two factories that have relocated in the past 10 years, Shores was hopeful Kasich would focus his talk on how he intends to create more jobs for Americans.
“I was making good money. Now … well, I’m working for less,” Shores said.
Shores was happy to hear Kasich spent a good portion of his time talking about the creation of jobs in Ohio and the nation.
“You wonder why corporations are leaving America? Because their taxes are so darn high, they can move their corporate headquarters somewhere else and cut their taxes in three quarters,” Kasich said. “What are we doing? We want these corporations to stay here.”
He went on to reference his visit in Dayton on Friday, where he spoke to residents and workers in the Fuyao Glass America plant. He said other candidates — never uttering specific names — claim that China is “taking all our jobs.”
“Down in Dayton, we were able to get the Chinese to invest a half million dollars in an old auto plant and we have over a thousand workers, and on its way to two thousand (workers) because we recruited them,” the governor said, while also promising to simplify the nation’s tax code. “And we told the Chinese, you start investing here … and guess what? They’re here.”
Kasich moved on to talk about moving education back to Ohio, instead of where it is now — Washington D.C.
“We don’t need anyone in Washington (D.C.), they don’t even know what the time zone is in Ohio to try to run our schools. Let’s run our schools where we live,” he said.
He qualified the statement by saying children need to learn skills that will equip them for the future.
Sixth grade Malabar student Hunter Hughes did not get the chance to ask Kasich his questions about education, but if he had the chance, he said he would have asked the candidate how he plans on getting rid of Common Core.
“I love mathematics. But it’s (Common Core) confusing to students and teachers. We can’t figure it out,” Hughes said.
According to Kasich’s website, he supports state-run education programs — not federal educational programs.
One question asked the governor to speak on clean energy, a topic on which Kasich has stood separate from the rest of the Republican candidates.
“You know, I don’t know what impact we’re having, but I know we’re having some (on the climate),” he answered. “We will come up with something reasonable.
“We can’t pound over your heads to force you to do something you can’t do,” Kasich said, addressing Jeff Gorman, co-founder of The Gorman-Rupp Company.
He said his view on government adapting to changes in the environment align with his philosophies with the way businesses adapt to changes.
“In business, when you don’t change, you don’t innovate, you die. When government doesn’t innovate, or change things, we get more debt,” he said.
To wrap up the town hall, Kasich urged those in attendance to give him a chance.
“Look at the job I’ve done here in Ohio. Because that’s the model I’d like to take to the rest of the country. Secondly, I’d like you to reward a campaign that has been unwaveringly positive,” he said as guests stood to applaud.
Kasich earned 21-year-old Joey Barretta’s vote.
“I was a Marco Rubio supporter before. But he changed his tone after Super Tuesday to attack Trump and I lost a lot of respect for him,” Barretta said minutes after Kasich’s town hall.
Kasich also earned Mayor Tim Theaker’s vote.
“To have the governor of Ohio come to Mansfield shows me that he cares for Mansfield. I’m going to vote for John Kasich,” he said.
As a community development group committed to growing Mansfield, NECIC sees civic engagement as vital for a healthy community. Rooted in the North End, their efforts benefit North Central Ohio and beyond. They promote informed voter turnout for a thriving society. Explore at www.necic-ohio.org.