“Governor Kasich is now the leading governor in the race and the only one with a realistic chance at the nomination,” said Kasich senior strategist John Weaver. “He showed that a conservative with a positive message will succeed and, in fact, that’s the only way for Republicans to win the White House. As the governor of Ohio he knows how to do it.”
Donald Trump and Democratic Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders swept to victory in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primaries early.
Trump has 35 percent, Kasich has 16 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has 12 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has 11 percent with 92 percent of the vote counted.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who came in third in Iowa, was fifth in New Hampshire with 10 percent. He is followed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson.
Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton handidly, 60-39 percent with 86 percent of the vote in.
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Throughout the heated primary campaign, Kasich has prided himself on not attacking his rivals. A more moderate Republican from a politically important state, Kasich told supporters Tuesday night that his second-place finish could be an indication that “we’re turning the page on a dark part of American politics.”
The day was a blow for Rubio, who had appeared to be breaking away from the second-tier Republican pack after a stronger-than-expected showing in Iowa. But he stumbled in Saturday’s debate under intense pressure from Christie, who has relentlessly cast the young senator as too inexperienced and too reliant on memorized talking points to become president.
Rubio conceded that the debate may have hurt him in Tuesday’s contest and pledged to supporters that his poor performance “will never happen again.”
Christie, however, didn’t benefit from roughing up Rubio. He lagged behind the pack as votes were being tallied and said he planned to return home to New Jersey to “make a decision on our next step forward.”
Bush was pressing on, declaring that New Hampshire voters had “reset the race.”
Republican voters were more negative about their politicians than Democrats, with about half of GOP voters saying they felt betrayed by party officials. Trump carried a majority of those who said they wanted an outsider to win, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.
More than half of voters in the Republican primary made up their minds in the past week. However, Trump’s support appeared more sustained, with his supporters saying they made up their minds some time ago.
In a sign of Trump’s impact on the race, two-thirds of GOP voters said they supported a temporary ban on non-citizen Muslims entering the U.S., a position the billionaire outlined last year amid rising fears of terrorism emanating from the Middle East.
Sanders pulled from a broad coalition of New Hampshire voters, gathering a majority of votes from both men and women, independents and voters under 45. Hillary Clinton won the majority of those over 65.
Clinton’s campaign argues she will perform better as the race heads to more racially diverse states, including Nevada and South Carolina. Both New Hampshire and Iowa are overwhelmingly white states that are far less diverse than the nation as a whole.
As polls closed, her campaign manager Robby Mook blasted out a memo touting Clinton’s strength with Hispanics and black voters and arguing that a Democrat cannot win the presidency without support from those constituencies.
The distinctions between what motivated Sanders and Clinton voters were sharp. The Vermont senator was backed by 9 in 10 voters for whom honesty was important and 8 in 10 who wanted a candidate who "cares about people like me." Clinton, meanwhile, won support from nearly 90 percent of those who considered the "right" experience important in their decision and about 80 percent of those regarding electability as the most important factor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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