Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a fierce critic of President Trump who challenged him for the Republican nomination in 2016, is thinking “very seriously” about another run for president in 2020.
With the nation so bitterly divided, Kasich, 66, said he would consider a third party or bipartisan run against Trump.
“All options are on the table for me,” Kasich said Sunday. “What I ask myself is what do I owe to my country? What can I do to help my country?”
He had previously floated the idea of running with Colorado’s Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.
In 1864, Abraham Lincoln ditched his vice president in his reelection campaign, and instead chose to run with a Sen. Andrew Johnson, a Democrat.
Republicans temporarily changed their name to the “National Unity Party” and won.
Kasich, a Republican who is finishing his final term as governor in January, said that he is having “earnest conversations that go on virtually every day” with his friends and family about running in 2020.
“We need different leadership, there isn’t a question about it,” Kasich said. “I’m not only just worried about the tone and the name-calling and the division in our country and the partisanship, but I also worry about the policies.”
Among his policy concerns, Kasich cited the rising national debt, the inability to find a solution to the immigration problem, isolationism and the “rotten deal with the Saudis to look the other way” after the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
“I’m worried about our country in the longterm. So, the question for me is, ‘What do I do about this?'” he said. He added that he has to consider whether to run only if he thinks he can actually win, or if it would be worth it to run to “send a message that can disrupt the political system in this country.”
Trump has just a 39% approval rating, according to a CBS News poll released last week, but 85% among Republicans.
An incumbent President has never lost a primary, although several, including Andrew Johnson, lost the support of their party.
Pat Buchanan was the most recent primary challenger, trying to take down President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
Ted Kennedy failed to beat Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Ronald Reagan almost upset Gerald Ford in 1976 but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Kasich said he doesn’t have a timetable for making a decision on a possible third run, but will “see how events develop.”
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who just won re-election in the battleground state, also said that he is “seriously thinking about” a run for president in 2020.