SHARONVILLE, Ohio (WCMH/AP) – Ohio’s own presidential candidate headlined a suburban Cincinnati Republican club’s annual pancake breakfast, beginning a busy campaign day in the state.
At the breakfast, Gov. John Kasich addressed the tumultuous events outside a planned Donald Trump rally in Chicago Friday night saying, “Donald Trump has created a toxic environment. And the toxic environment has allowed his supporters and those who sometimes seek confrontation to come together in violence. There is no place for this. There is no place for a national leader to prey on the fears of people who live in our great country. It is important that we recognize their frustrations. It is important to recognize that there are challenges that we face. Challenges of job insecurity and a lack of rising wages and a frustration that their children may not inherit the kind of life that they inherited from their parents.”
“To see Americans slugging themselves at a political rally deeply disturbed me,” Kasich said. “We’re better than that.”
Trailing in the GOP delegate count, Kasich is counting on winning his home state Tuesday. He continued his campaign to Heath, just outside of Newark, where he earned a standing ovation when he told a crowd of supporters that he “will not take the road to the highest office in the land.”
Meanwhile, GOP front-runner Donald Trump returns to Ohio with a planned rally in the Dayton area. Former President Bill Clinton leads a Saturday morning get-out-the-vote effort in Cincinnati among Democratic events planned.
Trump himself took aim at Kasich Saturday morning, with a tweet criticizing Kasich’s past support of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Both candidates are expected to spend Saturday at events around Ohio.