Stephen Lam/Reuters
John Kasich officially suspended his campaign on Wednesday, just a day after Ted Cruz dropped out. Both announcements come after Donald Trump won a resounding victory in Indiana, bringing him closer to the necessary 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Just last night though, Kasich asserted that he would remain in the presidential contest despite having no odds of winning.
"I have renewed faith...that the Lord will show me the way forward," Kasich said as he formally announced the end of his campaign in Columbus on Wednesday afternoon.
He spoke highly of his staff and sticking to his ideals as the positive candidate in a race filled with harsh rhetoric.
"As a result, I think I know and I sure hope and pray that they feel that this experience that they had in this campaign has improved and in some way changed their lives for the better," Kasich said of his staff. Just a week ago, Kasich and Cruz had made a pact to attempt to stop Trump by dividing their resources in various states. Cruz was supposed to focus on Indiana while Kasich would take Oregon and New Mexico, two states which will vote later this month.
After Tuesday night's results, this was not the case.
"It wasn't sexy," Kasich said of his message. "It wasn't a great sound bite."
His campaign never managed to take hold and at the time he dropped out Marco Rubio, who hasn't been in the race for over a month, still led him in the delegate count. Kasich had only won one state: Ohio, where he is the governor. Yet he presented a hopeful message as he left the arena.
"The people of our country changed me, they changed me with the stories of their lives," Kasich concluded.